After the Fire

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When I was in my last year of high school, we had a fire in our garage that spread smoke through the vents of our home causing smoke damage throughout the house. The damage was so sever that we spent over a month living in a hotel (not the worst when you’re kid!) until the repairs and renovations were completed. Since then, my family speaks in terms of events having taken place before or after the fire.

“Did we go on that trip before or after the fire?”

“Did she graduate before or after the fire?”

“Did he sell the business before or after the fire?”

The milestone is so significant, all of life is measured before and after that— the good, the bad, and ugly. 

The milestones of our faith can be like that too. Or at least, they should be! There should be a sense that I was a certain way before my encounter with Jesus and now I’m like this.

Before I surrendered to Jesus and started following him, my life was like _____, or I found my identity in______ ; and now things are like _____, or my life is like_____ . An encounter with the Jesus should be significant, noteworthy, life-changing. 

Unfortunately, we can have a hard time moving past these markers of our faith. Rather than allowing them to be reminders of God’s faithfulness, we make them the obstacle to any future encounter with God. We want to duplicate the experience, chase the high, and actually feel something again. (I know I wouldn’t mind another month living in a hotel with meals provided and laundry service - the things I did not appreciate as a teen back then!)

But what if God wants us to encounter him in more subtle ways? 

I’ve previously shared about the prophet Elijah here but I want to go in a different direction this time because I’m finding myself heading in a different direction, too. Don’t worry, my theology hasn’t changed and I still recommend checking out that post if you haven’t. 

Just in case you’re not familiar, here’s some context. In 1 Kings, the prophet Elijah has a wild encounter with God in a public forum where Elijah goes head-to-head with 450 prophets of Baal, a false god. He humiliates them and then slaughters them, but not before God rains fire from heaven consuming an animal sacrifice. It’s the kind of thing you’d pay to watch at the movies. 

You’d think Elijah would be on high after this, but one message from an evil queen sends him spiralling. He hides in a cave, takes a nap, and prays to die. No exaggeration. 

Seriously, you should check out that post if you’re looking for a sign telling you, you just need a snack and a nap and God knows it! 

So after a few rounds of snacks and naps, God asks, What are you doing here, Elijah?

God knows everything. He knows why Elijah is there. God isn’t asking Elijah because he doesn’t know. It isn’t a question looking for information. It’s a question inviting reflection. It’s a question echoing the first question God asks in the Bible to Adam in the garden, “Where are you?”

It’s permission to reflect. 

Where am I at? What am I doing here? If you haven’t sat with these questions and reflected deeply on your response, I encourage you to do so. 

Elijah goes on a rant about what happened, how lonely he is, and how discouraged he feels.

Take a moment to fully engage with God’s response:

1 Kings 19 says this, 

11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

Reflecting on Elijah’s story, these demonstrations of God’s power through wind, earthquake, and fire are parallels of the milestones or the pillars of our own faith journeys.

Here’s what I mean:

I imagine the wind representing the heritage of faith in which many of us were raised. This may not be your story, but there are several reading or listening to this who were raised in homes that sought to follow Jesus. For those of us with this story, the warning is this: there is a tendency to lean on the faith of our fathers, our family of origin, to ground us in our faith rather than seeking God for ourselves. 

We can be tempted to get lazy with our prayer life, our theology is elementary at best, and we have no sense of our identity in Christ apart from whatever we acquire growing up. The question is, is your faith your own? Or is Mom still telling you what to believe? She may be right! That’s not the point. The point is, are you listening for the voice of God for yourself?

After the earthquake had past, a strong wind blew through the cave of the mountain where Elijah was in hiding. I imagine the earthquake to be like the community of believers many of us are a part of. Perhaps it’s your church, your small group, your friend group, youth group, Bible study, mom’s book club, men’s mentorship cohorts, you name it.

We are all connected to some kind of community of believers. If we are not careful, we can lean on these trusted and godly people to be the voice of God to us. Although God may use them to speak to you, he also wants to speak to you directly! So don’t miss God’s voice because you’re only tuned into everyone else’s. 

Lastly, the third pillar of our faith journey, can be the experiences that God uses to draw us in. Here’s what I mean: maybe you’ve attended a weekend retreat, a week-long conference, a powerful Sunday service, or worship night. God shows up at these things like a consuming fire, lighting your heart ablaze and drawing you in like nothing before. It’s beautiful and real and raw but it’s not meant to sustain you for all the other mundane days in between when all you want is a snack and nap. 

The danger with leaning too heavily on the faith of our past, the faith of our community, and finally, the blazing-fire-moments of a curated event, is that we don’t exercise the muscle of seeking God in the small things, the small moments, the ordinary. What happens after the fire? What does faith look like in the stillness?

Charles Spurgeon, a 19th century preacher, said this about Elijah’s story:

The still small voice of God speaking to the human heart is actually more powerful than outward displays of power or displays of God’s judgment.

Perhaps like me, what you’ve been needing most in this season is that quiet voice of God that shows up at the end. After the noise and chaos died down.

God was present in the silence. 

The pain in our broken world is too great to be sustained by only my family history, or my community, or my past experiences. I need the voice of God. I need that still, small voice to ask me, what are you doing here?. 

And I want my answer to echo the psalmist from Psalm 42:

1 As the deer pants for streams of water,    

so my soul pants for you, my God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.    

When can I go and meet with God?

3 My tears have been my food    

day and night,

while people say to me all day long,    

“Where is your God?”

4 These things I remember    

as I pour out my soul:

how I used to go to the house of God    

under the protection of the Mighty One

with shouts of joy and praise    

among the festive throng.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?    

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,    

for I will yet praise him,  

my Savior and my God.

9 I say to God my Rock,    

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I go about mourning,    

oppressed by the enemy?”

10 My bones suffer mortal agony    

as my foes taunt me,

saying to me all day long,    

“Where is your God?”

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?    

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,    

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God.

What’s in the Ears

This is the part where I share a song or podcast I’m currently into. This song is a whopping 20 years old as of 2026 so even though it’s an oldie, it’s still a goodie. It’s called None But Jesus by Hillsong UNITED. The first verse says,

In the quiet, in the stillness

I know that You are God

In the secret of Your presence

I know there I am restored

It is perfectly suited to this topic. Let me know if you check it out!If this stirred something in you, share this post with a friend or drop a comment below. I’d love to hear what small step you’re taking towards the flourishing life today! And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.