God whispers. God walks. God waits.
God whispers: In the first reading, the prophet Elijah is on the run from those who seek to kill him. As he hides on Horeb, the mountain of God, Elijah is anguished, exhausted, and terrified. The Lord tells Elijah that He, the Lord God, will pass by, so Elijah gets ready and listens. There is wind, crushing rocks, earthquakes, and fire, but God is still not there. Then comes a “tiny whispering sound/a sound of sheer silence.” Elijah knows that is God so he hides his face in his cloak, because no one can look on the face of God and live, and he stands up and goes outside to be in the presence of God.
God walks: In the gospel, the disciples are caught in a storm at sea. It’s night. They can’t see. They can’t hear because of the waves and the noise of the storm. Jesus had sent the disciples ahead of him so he could spend the night in silence and solitude to be with his Father. When Jesus finishes, He wants to join the disciples, so He walks on the water through the storm to join them on the boat. He can do that, so He does.
When the disciples see Him they think it’s a ghost, but Jesus calls out - “Take courage. Take heart. Get a hold of yourselves. It’s me, Jesus. Don’t be afraid.” Impetuous Peter, who loves Jesus, gets out of the boat and is walking on water as he heads for Jesus. But then he notices the storm, and fear gets a grip on him and he sinks. Immediately, Jesus grabs him and pulls him up, and asks him, “Why did you doubt?” And then He lets Peter know, “You’re not as big and bold as you think you are, my friend.” Peter is saved and everyone else’s belief in Jesus is strengthened.
God waits: We have all had times of fear when life is hard like Elijah. And we’ve all gone from loving life and thinking all is good and then something happens and we’re sinking and it looks like God isn’t going to help us this time. We think, “It’s over. Not even God can help me.” But God waits for us.
God waits for us to hear Him. God waits for us to calm down, be alone, and stop talking, especially to ourselves. And when we do, we discover God is waiting for us and has something to whisper into our hearts. God waits for us to tell us what He likes about us, and where He thinks we could use some work. But more importantly, to tell us again and again that He loves us, whether we ignore him, forget about Him, or disobey Him right to His face. Whatever we have done, God waits for us to recognize that He has been walking alongside us and loving us the whole time.
God whispers. God walks. God waits.
