The Sounds of Silence

Is there really anything so silent that you can’t hear it? Not really, even silence has a sound, if you listen closely.

The song by Simon and Garfunkel, “The Sound of Silence” is thought to be about the inability of people to communicate emotionally and spiritually with each other and God.

In reality I think it has a far deeper meaning than our inability to communicate with God or to recognise those whispers in our ears as His words. The truth is we turn off listening to others as well as with God. We have some preconceived notion that no one listens to us so why pay attention to others. That and the fact people today are so wrapped up in their social media program, the hardly notice the world going on around them.

Paul Simon originally wrote the song back in 1964 as an intro for his group early one morning around 3:00. It is not sure if it started out as a prayer or not, but sure has the right beginnings.

“Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound of silence.”

I don’t know about you, but most of my prayer answers come in the form of dreams in the dark of night and I just can’t get them out of my mind until I act on them. God is relentless when it comes to that, at least to me. As much as I try pushing the thought aside He keeps pushing it right in front of me until I pay attention and act on it.

In my post Solitude, I talked about how we are to pray in Solitude so we can have unfettered access to God and not be disturbed by outside influences. His answers to our prayers often come in the form of whispers in our ears and hearts and also in the form of dreams or visions.

The root of the problem is we either don’t listen of just refuse to accept what He is telling us as an answer to our prayer. This is why it is so important to pray in Solitude without outside noises interfering. His words are soft and gentle whispers that you really need to hear and follow. God’s answers to our prayers come in the form of visions, whispers in our hearts and ears as well as some messages slapping us right in the face with reality.

Some say it is just a coincidence when that happens, but I don’t believe in coincidence, there is a reason for everything that happens in life. Ask yourself the next time something pops into your mind out of the blue just what God is trying to tell you. You just might be astonished at the answer. Face it , God talks to us, we best learn to listen.

Life, for me anyway, has been full of good and not so good times. It has been through these times that I have become to know God and learn that He is always there for me. I have learned to listen to what God tells me and I grew to know never question where He leads me. Faith in His love has carried me through many hard times. I look forward to my morning quiet time with Him because He always has a blessing for me to share.

Listen to the silence in your world, the sound may just open your eyes.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed