Still Small Voice

This week’s blog post is being written by my husband, Pastor Scott Benka, regarding his miraculous escape from a near-fatal car accident. When I touched on this last week, I had a few people contact me wanting to hear the whole story. I couldn’t think of a better way than to have him write about it himself.

I’m Glad you asked….

So many times we miss the still, small voice of God speaking to us telling us to do or not to do something or just letting us know that God loves us more than we could ever know.

Two weeks ago today, I was coming home from a job in the Pittsburgh area and crossed over a large bridge and entered into the beginning of a construction zone. As I came upon the stopped vehicles ahead of me, I heard a still, small voice telling me to stay back. At first, I went through the normal check list of…..did I really just hear that, what does it mean, ect. But on this day, God was speaking to me to save my life.

As I approached the stopped traffic, there was a tanker semi truck stopped ahead of me. Upon pulling up behind him I remembered the still small voice that just spoke to me moments before to stay back. So against my common sense, I listened and stayed back. Little did I know that in a few short minutes it would all make sense to me. A SUV failed to stop and slammed into the back of my van going 50+ mph and pushed me into the tanker semi-trailer that was stopped ahead of me. As the impact pushed me forward, something was pushing me toward the passenger side of the van. As I hit the semi, the force pushed me back into my seat where I hit my head against the back head rest which broke the glass window behind my head rest. I was in shock and my head was pounding and chest and stomach was hurting from the force of the seatbelt.

While I was sitting there in shock, a man approached me and stood about 8 feet from my window and asked if I needed an ambulance. My reply to him was that I didn’t think so but I just want to sit here for a moment. The pain was definitely real and not going away, but as the man walked away and out of sight, my pain instantly left me.

As I was sitting there, the semi driver came back to check on my status. He proceeds to tell me, “You are a lucky man, I just unloaded all of my fuel and when you hit me you lifted up my trailer. If I was full of fuel, you wouldn’t be here right now.” As I was processing his information, I realized that if I had not heeded the stil, small voice I heard telling me to stay back, I wouldn’t be here. The extra distance I allowed between me and the semi truck allowed me to turn my van just enough to hit the back corner of the trailer rather than hitting it square in the back.

The man who hit me escaped with no injuries as well. It was a miracle of God. My van got the rear frame pushed into the rear axle, the driver’s side buckled out, the floor buckled up, the roof buckled out, and the front end buckled 6 inches past the driver’s door. I shouldn’t be here……BUT GOD!!!

I did go to the hospital to get checked out and as I told the ER nurses and Doctors what happened, I’m not sure they were believing me because I didn’t have a scratch. They gave me a clean bill of health. I did have to go back 5 days later to get tested for a blood clot which they found, but it has been healed as well. I had to tell the story about how God spared my life to the new ER staff.

The following week I had to talk to insurance companies, worker’s comp people, body shop people, on and on, and they all asked can you tell me what happened. I always started with I’m glad you asked because it is a miracle that I am here. Let me tell you about what my God did.

God spoke to me in that still, small voice. This time I listened and God saved my life. He sent the angel to check on me when I was in severe pain and instantly was healed as the angel walked away. He made sure the semi was empty so I didn’t die, He pushed me away from the point of impact so I didn’t get hurt. He was there in the midst of my storm holding me close.

It would have been so easy for me to say…..well, why didn’t God just stop the accident from happening? I can only give my opinion and here it is: I have been praying for divine appointments and walking in the miraculous. In order for you to walk in miraculous divine appointments, you will have to be a part of divine miraculous appointments. Because of this miraculous intervention in my life, I have been able to share my story with a countless number of people who I would normally not have any contact with. I am always asked; “what happened?” My answer always is…..I’m glad you asked: God……

God has a plan for your life…..Experience IT!!!! Never doubt or ignore the still, small voice of the Lord. Listen and obey and see what miracles He will do for you.

1 Kings 19:11-12 says:

¹¹ Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces 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]a still small voice.

Scott Benka is the Pastor at Harbor of Hope Ministries in Mercer, 
Pennsylvania.  He has been in ministry for over 28 years with a heart
to see revival fall in this nation, as well as feeding and caring for the 
homeless in the NW Pennsylvania area.