Wave Calls To Wave

There are so many voices to hear. We have had our new "surround sound system" for about a year now. As we sit and watch the Olympics, we see the athletes racing down the slopes and hear the icy crescendo of their skis.... and then suddenly I will hear some voice in the crowd call out from the speaker behind me. I jump every time. Even the dogs will suddenly cringe as they walk by one of the corner speakers and a disembodied voice starts yelling, detached from any visual image that would convince us he is really there. I really think I prefer the old regular television where the sound all comes from the images we see in front of us. It also turned on and off by pushing one button. To operate our new improved TV, I have to begin pushing buttons twenty minutes before the show, and only that short an amount of time if I remember the correct sequence. It is more complicated than detonating the atom bomb.

But I digress.

Back to voices.

The skier is swooshing down the slope and most of the sound of the show is in front of my face, but there are four speakers with our new system, and sometimes, those background voices are saying things that are vying for my attention. Often it is the voice of a family member, calling her son's name, encouraging him. I doubt he hears her on top of the mountain, but I do, coming from the left rear speaker, out of nowhere, a voice of encouragement and love.

I love the verse in Psalm 42 that speaks of the waves calling to each other and the psalmist in the depths of his despair crying, "Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me." The voice he hears amplifies his despair. I love the verse not for the pain of the psalmist, but for the recognition that creation all around us is calling out to us. Voices are lifting everywhere. Perhaps my favorite story about a voice calling out in the Bible is in 1 Samuel, when Samuel hears God call his name audibly, but mistakes it for his benefactor Eli calling from a back room. It is Eli who gently tells Samuel, "That is God speaking, you dumbkof, go back and listen to what He is saying." ( some liberty taken with translation).

When all is silent around me, especially in these early mornings, and the days are fairly routine with no exciting events more momentous than lunch, it is sometimes easy to think God is not calling. But sometimes, if I am listening and my heart is tuned to His channel, I do hear a voice calling from a left hidden speaker, and it is a voice of love and encouragement.

Hebrews 4:7
Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."