As I’m writing this, I’m sat in our garden next to a lavender bush. I can hear bird’s singing in a nearby tree to others that are perched on our neighbours roof, the sound is only disturbed by the occasional car passing the end of the street. I keep being distracted from writing, as a couple of bees move from flower to flower on the lavender plant collecting pollen. What I’m learning, is that it’s OK to be distracted for a few moments, to stop and marvel at the glory of creation. There are times that we need to put down our phones, turn off the tv or our music and rest, God can use those times to speak to us, He can help us to train our ears to hear His voice.
Speaking of hearing, some of you may have picked up from a previous blog, that I have recently had a hearing test, what you won’t know is that I now have a pair of hearing aids that I’m getting used to wearing. I hadn’t realised how restricted my hearing had become, but when I started wearing them, I was suddenly aware of the background noise of life that I’d been missing. Stupid things like my footsteps while walking down the street, the zipper on my jacket or how noisy a modern foil lined crisp packet is!
I have recently been surprised to discover that the human voice has a range from around 85 hertz up to 2,500 hertz, though not many of us are capable of reaching either end of the scale. But even more interesting, is that the human ear (though sadly not mine), can hear sound from around 20 hertz through to 20,000 hertz! We can hear a huge frequency of sound, way more than we can vocalise. The scientifically minded amongst you probably know this already, but sound below 20 hertz is called infrasonic and the sound beyond the top end of human hearing is called ultrasound. Infrasonic sound, though we can’t hear it can cause headaches to humans. Did you know that scientists measure natural infrasonic sound waves to predict volcanic activity and earthquakes? At the other end of the scale, many of you will have personal experience of ultrasound scans, which enable doctors to see inside the body, but did you also know that ultrasound can also be used to demolish buildings?
I have recently been reading about Elijah and how God led him to a mountain top, when he was tired and exhausted and all he wanted was to hear from God. He was on the same mountain top from where God had spoken to the people of Israel while they were in the wilderness, an experience that they’d found so scary and traumatic, that they’d begged Moses to ask God never to speak to them in that way again, as they felt that if He did, that they would surely die! Knowing the significance of the mountain Elijah was probably expecting God to speak in a big, loud way again. How often do we try to put God in a box, to expect him to speak in exactly the same way again and again and again? But God didn’t speak through the wind, or the earthquake or even the fire, He chose to speak in a whisper (1 Kings 19:11-13) or in some translations a still small voice.
Interesting side note - I understand that the literal translation of the original Hebrew word we translate as whisper is “a tiny silent voice”! Are we listening to God? Are we hearing the right frequency? We know that to our ears, there are silent sounds and that they have power even though we can’t hear them, as we are often able to see or feel their effects. While the dictionary definition of whisper is “to speak very softly using one’s breath, without using one’s vocal chords, especially for the sake of privacy”. That gives a real intimate, personal element to the story, even though there was only Elijah and God on that mountain top. Remember also that God’s breath brings life, He breathed the world into being! The challenge to me and to you, is am I getting close to God, so that even if I don’t always hear his voice, I can feel His breath?
Going back to Elijah, did you notice that he went outside twice to hear God. In the midst of the storm, he’d obviously retreated back into the cave and he had to be called out a second time. If we don’t hear from God at first, do we retreat back until we feel safe?
On the subject of silence, I was intrigued to learn that Beethoven’s famous fifth symphony in C minor apparently starts with silence? It was written with an eighth rest at the beginning, the silence is designed to quieten the listeners ear, so that they can better hear the symphony! We can all learn something from Beethoven, we need to purposefully quieten our hearts so that we can better hear God’s voice!
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