The Sound of Silence

We live in a world of sound. There is sound all around us...music piped in every store, every building.

. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Even in places where sound is not piped in you will see people with their headphones or earbuds plugged in to pipe in their own choice of music.

Other, non-melodic sounds (although I have heard some pretty non-melodic music these days) abound in our lives as well.  Car engines, jet engines, motors of all sorts, trains, electrical appliances. . .the list could go on and on.

On Sunday morning at 3am, for us, the sound stopped.  We experienced the "Sound of silence."

It was pretty dramatic for us because we have for thirty-four years slept with some form of white-noise, usually a floor fan.  Also, right outside our bedroom window is an air conditioning unit, providing more rumbling noise.  At 3am, when all that stopped the resulting silence was incredibly loud.  There was nothing.

Glen got out of bed and walked down the hallway to the back door, (When the power is out, you always want to make sure you aren't the only one with a power outage on the block!)  I could hear his foot-falls on the ceramic tiles all the way to the kitchen.  Then I heard. . .nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  If I strained, I could hear my own breath coming in and out.

How rare is that to hear nothing?  Not a sound.  Silence.  As peaceful as that sounds, I didn't like it.  It felt discomforting for some reason.  Then there was an incredible provision of the Lord when we didn't even know we were going to need a provision.

When the power goes out in the middle of the night in August in the deep South, the first thing you think of is, "Oh, no! No air conditioner!"  The thought can be horrifying.  We have spent too many sleepless nights after hurricanes trying to find some cool spot to sleep and being rewarded with only sweat and tiredness for our efforts.

Glen came back from his sojourn outside with wonderful news. "Open up the windows, it's actually cool outside."  I didn't believe this could be true in August, but I opened up the windows and felt a cool wafting of air pass across my face.  We laid back down in relative comfort and listened now to the crickets and the whirl of the jet engines at the nearby airport.  It was even possible to sleep.

"And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book,  
neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, 
Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, 
hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. 
(Revelation 5:4,5)   
And when He had opened the seventh seal, 
there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour."
 (Revelation 8:1)

What will it be like in that day when the Lion of the tribe of Judah has opened the last seal of the book and there is silence in heaven for the space of half and hour.  The book of Revelation tells us that the four beasts around the throne of God "rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."  But they will be silent for this period of time.  There will be silence, silence in a place which is usually full of the praises of the Lord.

What a heart of love and pity that the Lord calls for a moment of silence before pouring out this great judgment on an unrepentant creation.  How His heart which "delighteth in mercy" must break at His unredeemed creation.  Salvation was freely offered to a willful, sinful mankind at the price of God's beloved Son and the offer was rejected by many.

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, 
and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, 
and God Himself shall be with them,
and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; 
and there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: 
for the former things are passed away.
 And He that sat upon the throne said, 
Behold, I make all things new. 
And He said unto me, 
Write: for these words are true and faithful.
 And He said unto me, It is done. 
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. 
I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; 
and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, 
and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, 
and all liars, shall have their part in the lake 
which burneth with fire and brimstone: 
which is the second death. 
(Revelation 21:3-8)

He which testifieth these things saith,

Surely I come quickly. Amen.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 
(Revelation 22:20