Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal. 1 Kings 19:18.
And he [Elijah] came thither [to Mount Horeb] unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks 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: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave.”
His petulance was silenced. The Lord desired him to understand that boisterous, noisy elements are not always producers of the best results. The still small voice could subdue and soften and accomplish great things.
The Lord convinced Elijah that the wrongdoers would not always go unpunished. He told him to go to the land of Horeb and appoint three persons who were to fulfill the Lord's purpose in punishing idolatrous Israel. All working in different ways, these three were to avenge the controversy God had with Israel.
Then He who knows every heart corrected the impression held by Elijah that he was the only one left who was true to the worship of God. “I have left me,” God said, “seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”
The Lord desired to teach His servant that it is not the thing that makes the greatest show, the most powerful representation, that is the most successful in doing His work. It is not always the most powerful presentation by pen or voice that accomplishes the most good.—Letter 62, 1900.
From Christ Triumphant - Page 165
Christ Triumphant