Voices Are All Around Us

by Terrell, J. D. | Category: General | Feb 1994

We take it all for granted - voices, music, sound of all kinds. Yet the journey of sound from its source to you is one of nature's marvels. Sound has to be collected, conducted, and finally dispatched to our brains, the great master-computer. The little organ which achieves this is the ear - not just the "trumpet" of skin which traps the sound in the first place, but a fascinating series of channels for conducting the sound, which occupy about as much space as a cubic centimetre.

Voices are all around us every day - often too many for comfort! The Scriptures say that "there are... many kinds of voices in the world" (1 Cor. 14:10). Some voices we have to listen to for obvious purposes. But when it comes to voices and sounds which affect our Christian life, then we need to select carefully. For the wonderful faculty of hearing is something to be sanctified, made holy, for the Master. We shall hear certain things if we keep certain company. That is sure. We shall hear certain sounds if we go to certain places. That also is certain. So sometimes it's a question of keeping the wrong sounds from reaching our ears at all; at others, of learning to "switch off' when we cannot escape sounds. Hence the difference between hearing and listening.

The same applies when we think, not of actual physical hearing, but of

"hearing" God's voice as He speaks to us in various ways. We can hear and not listen. We can read our Bibles God's clearest voice to our hearts and not let the message sink in. These were the very words used by the Lord to His disciples in Luke 9:44, "Let these words sink into your ears". Our supreme Example in this, of course, is the Lord Himself about whom the prophecy was written, "He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as they that are taught" (Is. 50:4).

Hearing is essential to learning. So it is imperative that children with hearing difficulties - usually born that way - are discovered at the earliest possible moment; and everything possible done to help them to use what hearing they have. "Belief', the Bible says, "cometh of hearing" (Rom. 10:17), and we can recall how it was the effect of God's voice on our hearts which brought us to the Saviour - an echo of Isaiah's words, "Hear, and your soul shall live" (55:3).

Our ears can, however, be damaged by disease or injury, leading to serious impairment of hearing. Abscess used to damage the hearing of many children - now happily much less frequently. This reminds us that sin can hinder us from hearing God's voice through His Word, through the example of others, and through the warnings of conscience. We can easily begin not to hear these messages when sin obstructs the carriage of the "sound". And sin does this if not confessed and put out of the way. So, "he that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Mat. 11:15).

For just as hearing is essential to learning generally, so it is indispensable for learning to speak. A child will never utter a word which he has never heard. No more will a Christian speak a word for his Master if he has not been listening for his Master's voice. Let us hope and pray, then, that the Lord Jesus will always be able to say to us as He did to some people in Matthew 13:16, "Blessed are ... your ears, for they hear".

Terrell, J. D. | Feb 1994
General