早在二十世紀初，紐約市就已經是個嘈雜的地方。高架火車、汽車、電車、報童的叫賣聲，還有熙熙攘攘的人潮，生活中的嘈雜聲不絕於耳！但某天在百老匯大道和34街的交界處，查爾斯．凱洛格（Charles Kellogg）竟然對他朋友說：「你聽，有蟋蟀的叫聲喔！」

他朋友說：「不可能！這裡這麼吵，你怎麼可能聽到這麼小的聲音。」但凱洛格非常肯定，最後還找到那隻正在麵包店的窗戶上唧唧叫的蟋蟀。他朋友說：「你的耳朵太厲害了。」凱洛格回答說：「不是我的耳朵厲害，主要的問題是你將注意力集中在哪裡。」

以利亞是上帝的先知，他剛看到了上帝展現驚人的大能，現在卻因害怕異教王后的追殺而躲進洞穴裡（列王紀上19章1-9節）。這一次，上帝並不是用轟轟烈烈的方式來對以利亞說話。雖然上帝使烈風大作、地大震動和降下烈火（11-12節），但在這之後，上帝親自與以利亞安靜交談，上帝用「微小的聲音」（12節）對他說話。

現今你我的生活中有太多的噪音，但上帝仍透過聖經和聖靈，用微小的聲音對我們說話。若我們花時間禱告，專注於上帝，便能摒除噪音，聽到祂安慰和指引的聲音。

In the early twentieth century, New York City had become a noisy place. With an overhead train, cars, trolleys, newsboys yelling, and people rushing around—life was loud! Yet, one day at Broadway and 34th Street, a man named Charles Kellogg declared to his friend, “Listen, I hear a cricket.”

“Impossible,” his friend answered. “With all this racket, you couldn’t hear a tiny sound like that.” Yet Mr. Kellogg insisted and eventually found the cricket, chirping in the window of a bakery. “What astonishing hearing you have,” his friend proclaimed. “Not at all,” Mr. Kellogg replied. “It’s a matter of where you focus your attention.”

Elijah was a prophet of God who’d just seen Him perform an amazing display of His power, but now the prophet was hiding in a cave for fear of the pagan queen (1 Kings 19:1-9). This time, however, God didn’t want to communicate in a powerful way. Even though He had sent a great wind, an earthquake, and even a roaring fire (vv. 11-12), it was time now for Elijah to commune with God personally and quietly. God wanted to speak to the prophet in “a gentle whisper” (v. 12).

Today, there’s a surplus of noise in our lives, yet God still speaks in a quiet voice through the Scriptures and by His Spirit. Taking time to prayerfully focus our attention on God will help us tune in to His comforting, guiding voice.