Elijah and the Lord's Communication

I had an epiphany about this scripture.

 11 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:

  12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a ^astill small ^bvoice.

This scripture is often used to teach that the lord uses a voice in his communications, and it is still and small. This scripture is a perfect example of this principle but, I realized that there was so much more to this scripture.

First, this scripture illustrates that the Lord is a being, not merely an entity that controls the Land, Fire, and Air. The Lord has a voice, he is not limited to communicating through the elements, he can--when he needs to--use his voice to teach.

Second, this scripture illustrates the need to seek to understand the Lord. The Lord told Elijah to go out and watch all the stuff that happened, but Elijah understood the Lord enough to keep watching/listening until the Lord had communicated what he needed to. Too often we, as seekers of the Lord's will, follow his instruction only to give up early. The lord tells you to go out, you see a gigantic wind that blows rocks off the side of a mountain, then you go back in thinking that that was why you needed to go out. This is a scripture that illustrates the importance of patience. Elijah waited, through the wind, earthquake, and fire to hear the Lord, because he knew the Lord.

The scripture says that the "Lord passed by." He may have caused the wind, earthquake and fire. He may have used them to get Elijah's attention. But Elijah knew that the Lord had something to teach him, so he waited to hear it. 

Just to further illustrate my point I found some examples of the Lord communicating through Wind, Earthquake, and Fire. I excluded prophecy (for example: Isaiah is full of prophecy that the Lord will communicate through Earthquake and Fire.)


Wind:
Ex. 10: 13, 19 Moses calls on the Lord, the Lord sends wind to start the plagues. The Lord uses the wind to communicate that he exists, that Moses is his prophet.
Gen. 8: 1 God sends a wind at the end of the 40 days of rain. The Lord uses the wind to  communicate that he exists, that he has not forgotten Noah, and the remaining earth creatures. 

Earthquake:
Acts 16: 26 Paul and Silas are in prison, and the God sends an earthquake so the walls of the prison fall, the guard wakes up and is ready to kill himself because all the prisoners escaped on his watch, but they didn't escape, so that Paul and Silas could teach the guard about Christ.

Fire
Hel. 5: 23-24, 43-45 Lehi and Nephi are encircled with fire so they can teach those with them and then have angels come.