Still Small Voice
Son, I never left you
Listen
Start by listening to Still Small Voice from Hold the Line. The words are on the song’s page.
The message
Elijah was worn out. He had just stood against hundreds of false prophets, and now the queen wanted him dead. He ran into the wilderness, hid in a cave on the mountain, and told the Lord he was the only faithful one left. So the Lord told him to go stand on the mount. A great wind came and tore the mountain and broke the rocks in pieces, "but the Lord was not in the wind." Then an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. "And after the fire a still small voice."
The man in this song climbs a mountain with a question he can't shake. His family needs answers, and he doesn't know which road to take. So he stands on the summit and shouts at the sky, expecting thunder. And what comes is a whisper. The Book of Mormon describes that voice better than anyone: "not a voice of thunder," not loud, but "a still voice of perfect mildness," and yet it "did pierce even to the very soul." That's how the Holy Ghost works. The Lord told Oliver Cowdery, "I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost."
Here's the part I don't think we talk about enough. The song names two things that keep us from hearing. The first is noise. A world that never sleeps, screens that never quiet down, every voice shouting louder than the last. The loudest voice is rarely the one that's true. But the second one is harder. Nephi told his brothers that the Lord had spoken to them in a still small voice, "but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words." And Helaman teaches that the Spirit of the Lord "doth not dwell in unholy temples." Sometimes the silence isn't the volume. It's us.
That's not a word of condemnation. It's a door. Because the answer is repentance, and repentance clears the way. In the restored Church, after baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. That gift is a promise of His companionship as long as we keep our covenants. When it feels like He's left, He hasn't. The song says it in His voice: "Son, I never left you / You just couldn't hear." We step away. He waits.
And sometimes there's no answer yet, and that doesn't mean anything is wrong. Jesus called the Holy Ghost the Comforter. He promised it would teach us all things and bring His words back to our remembrance, and He promised a peace the world can't give. Before the Spirit tells you which road to take, He'll often just sit there in the dark with you. Comfort first. Direction comes after.
President Russell M. Nelson pleaded with us to hear Him, and to make the effort it takes. That's the invitation of this song. Shut the door. Turn off the shouting. Open the Book. Be still, and know that He is God. The voice that found Elijah on the mountain is still speaking, and it is speaking to you.
Ponder
When heaven has felt silent to you, was it the noise around you, something you needed to clear out of your own house, or a season when He was simply sitting with you in the dark? What would it take to find out?
Try this tonight
Put your phone in another room and shut the door. Pray, then stay on your knees a little longer than feels comfortable, and write down any thought or feeling that comes, even a small one.