The tumult seems amazing right now. Was it really two weeks ago that a mad Islamic gunman killed 49 people in Orlando? While many are still trying to get their head around the political tremor that is Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee, the United Kingdom has let fly with the full-on “Big One” of political quakes by voting “Yes” on Brexit. And that’s just the big stage stuff. The stuff on the small stage of my personal life is astounding. Among those I love the tales of cancer, accident, injury and worse are just amazing. It is enough to give one pause about what God’s actual plan is.

At times like his I always think about Elijah, God’s prophet in a deeply tumultuous time in the history of Israel. One of the greatest men of God history has ever seen, Elijah also felt overwhelmed by the tumult:

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

I have read that passage hundreds of times in my life. Usually I reflect on it thinking about how often I miss God’s voice because I look for it in the wind and quake, not in the still and small. But today I read it differently. Elijah’s life was in such tumult that he gave up. When he thought he was done God said, “Run!” When Elijah arrived where God wanted him, God decided to show him tumult – wind, quake, fire – natural tumult that no man or men can hope to match. It is as if God is saying to Elijah, “You do not have a clue what tumult is!”

Then God said, “You think you are alone? You’re not! Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get busy.”

Massive change, in our lives and our politics, are afoot. We cannot see what lies on the other side. But this we can know – God is bigger and more powerful and has more surprises in store than we can imagine. We’ll be fine, we just have to get busy being faithful to what God has called us.