Amen! - Prayers of the Scriptures

1 Kings 9a - 13

Trish Haq

August 4, 2024

With a friend, your family or in your small group, discuss the following questions:

1. At the start of the summer sermon series, we invited you to consider trying something new in your prayer life. This past month, have you tried anything new? (perhaps a different way of praying, or a new rhythm of some kind?). If so, how has it been going?
2. If you haven’t tried anything new, is there something you’d like to try in the month ahead? What new commitment would you like to make in the intentional time that you spend with God? What might get in the way of this goal? What could help you to do it?
3. Read through today’s passage from 1 Kings. What do you notice about this passage? What stands out? What questions do you have about it? What is happening in the story? (look back at the previous few chapters if needed).
4. Mount Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai, where Moses received the 10 Commandments. Read Exodus 19:16-19 and well as Exodus 33:12 – 34:10. Compare and contrast Moses’ experience with God on the mountain top, with Elijah’s experience. What similarities do you see? What differences do you think are significant and why?
5. How do you think Elijah experienced this moment with God? What might he have been thinking or feeling?
6. What meaning do you make of the contrast between the chaos of the storm, and the quiet of God’s presence that followed? What was God trying to communicate to Elijah through this scene?
7. How comfortable are you with stillness and silence? Take some time to discuss the busyness and noise of your lives. What steps could you take to create more space for the kind of vibrant silence where God’s presence can be experienced? What gets in the way of this kind of stillness? Is it something that you long for?
8. Elijah encountered the presence of God in an unexpected way, not in the shattering wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but through the stillness, when the storm quieted to a whisper. Consider the ways that God can speak to us, something getting our attention loudly and dramatically, other times, showing us Himself in unexpected ways. Can you think of other examples, either from scripture, or in your own life, where God has moved in unexpected ways?

Pray for each other out of the points discussed. Ask God to continue to deepen and expand your prayer lives. Pray for discernment and wisdom to learn how to hear God’s voice more clearly in your lives, and ask for His help to create more space for stillness and quiet in your daily and weekly rhythms of life. Take time to be still, embracing a time of silence and listening prayer together. Take time afterwards to share what you experienced during this time of silence, whether it was impactful or challenging in some way.