In a famous passage in chapter 19 in the First Book of Kings, the prophet Elijah is facing a full blown crisis.

He has valiantly witnessed to God before the people and especially before the evil king and queen, Ahab and Jezebel. Jezebel has been killing the other prophets and Elijah has been forced to flee into the wilderness, fearing for his life.

Elijah is then led to a cave where the Lord tells Him to stand and wait because God Himself will pass by. What follows is a lesson for the spiritual life.

As Elijah stands waiting, a violent wind arises, so strong that it can break rocks around the prophet. Must that not be a fitting signal of God’s presence? But we are told “... the Lord was not in the wind.”

Next followed an earthquake and then fire. Surely these were signs of God’s presence? But the Lord was in neither one.

Then, we are told, Elijah heard “a light silent sound.” It was only then that Elijah knew he was meeting the Lord so he covered his face and spoke to the Lord.

In our modern world, it is not difficult to feel like Elijah. We can feel discouraged and alone, or at least in a rapidly growing minority. We are called to be witnesses, but we might wonder what difference we are making?

While we pray and witness to our faith, we watch as our society declines, marriages and families break up, and our freedom of religion is pressured and threatened. We might be tempted to wonder, where is God?

We can take two lessons from Elijah and his struggles.

First, despite any discouragement, we must persevere in our faith. God does allow us to be put to the test. But this is in order to deepen our faith and trust in Him.

Elijah, after the encounter with God, finds out that there are many other faithful people he did not know about. God’s grace was always working, even if Elijah didn’t recognize how.

Second, if we are truly to meet God and to open our hearts and souls to His presence, we need something sorely missing in our culture. That is silence.

Elijah encountered God, not in power and sound but in a slight whisper of a breeze.

Isn’t it fascinating and even a little wearisome that the modern world seems allergic to the absence of sound and distraction? In our neighborhoods, how often is the quiet chirp of crickets drowned out by the amplified music, ours or our neighbor’s? Who drives the car without the radio on?

The constant noise of angry people on all sides filling our television and radio adds to the lack of peace and serenity.

And what about the other kind of ever present “noise” presented by our societal addictions to our cell phones and to the internet?

We are becoming a society that craves distractions.

Often, however, recognizing the presence of God requires what marked the experience of Elijah — silence. Yes, we are told life is so busy, who has time for silence? But we do have time and the means if we want.

Silence does not have to be for hours and hours. The same desire for good that makes people set aside time daily to brush teeth or to go for a healthy walk can be the source of discipline to commit to a few minutes of turning off the radio and the television to be with God.

The accumulation of noise and distractions in our modern world makes it harder for us to listen to the Word of God and the whisperings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. That is especially true for our young people who are growing up in our culture.

For us, as for Elijah, we need to make time for quiet and serenity in our lives. It is an essential condition for the spiritual life and for recognizing the presence of God.