Can’t Hear Each Other

Scripture References: Isaiah 7:4; Luke 6:12-13

Prolonged exposure to eighty-five decibels or more can cause damage to the inner ear and result in permanent hearing loss and extensive health problems in related areas including high blood pressure. Imagine, then, the dismay of a Lehman College psychology professor as she stood, decibel meter in hand, and registered ninety decibels at an Upper Manhattan intersection. As she crossed the street the rattling staccato of a jackhammer shot the decibel level up to one hundred.

New York is considered the nation’s noisiest city because of a population density fourteen times higher than other cities. Increased traffic, construction, ill-tempered motorists, careless pedestrians, and the constant repair needed in the metropolis promise to make it worse, not better. It is the price paid by those who live and work in the city. Among other benefits denied their city cousins, rural dwellers tend to lose less hearing capability in their lifetime.

Prayer offers a busy Christian the quiet time needed to withstand the noisy distractions of life. Too often our spiritual values get buried under the clamoring of family, health, and career. In prayer’s quiet time God energizes our soul with His peace. Then, when times are not quiet, when we stand at the Broadway’s of life, we can express the spiritual graces with which the quiet time equipped us. Christians continue to compete in the daily grind, confidently modeling God’s life, knowing that we stand tallest from a kneeling position.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.