The Sounds of Silence

By Christine Jayakaran

January 19^th, 2023

Why is it that most of us adults cannot handle silence?

You don't believe me? Have a look at the number of people on the street who have their ears blocked up with some sort of earpiece or headphones. The guy who brings me my vegetables has them on and so does the man who does our ironing. Our cook likes to have music on when she cooks while our maid hates a silent room and will narrate stories at a decibel that’s high enough to break the sound barrier.

The noise in our lives is at an all-time high. We have YouTube shorts and IG reels and videos constantly tuned in so that we receive as much information as possible at any given time. Maybe you're not into media so much as you are into friendships and the cacophony that you welcome through those relationships. You have friends on speed dial, some are just a WhatsApp video call away and they are who you lean into the most. So when a friend goes into radio silence you have a huge panic attack and start to imagine the worst and then you begin the downward spiral into worry and depression.

I have a suggestion though. What if you took a break from all things digital for a while? What if you took a break from constantly needing to be surrounded by people and allow the silence to envelop you?

I was meditating on the scriptures in Genesis centred specifically on Jacob’s life. There was one verse that caught my attention and didn't let go of me. It was verse 24 from chapter 32 which said 'Jacob was left alone, and a Man wrestled with him until daybreak'.

Jacob was on the brink of either destruction by or reconciliation with his brother Esau who he hadn't seen for years. He had sent his family ahead and stayed back to seek God's face and pray for the impending meeting. It was at this very pivotal moment that God met with Him, wrestled with him and changed him. God asks him for his name- not because He didn't know it but because He wanted Jacob to acknowledge who he was. God renames him at this point transforming Jacob from a cheat to someone who wrestled with God and man and emerged victorious! This moment happened because he was alone without the noise of cattle and children, wives and business. His senses were tuned into the spiritual and God met him right there!

If we say we are lovers of Jesus then we need to be unafraid of isolation and the silence that accompanies it. It's in that solitude that He meets with us.

Maybe you've been wrestling with God over the unfairness of life.

Maybe you have lost your sense of identity after dealing with the drama of a relationship.

Or maybe you have lost your focus because of how busy you keep yourself.

You will regain all of that and more only when you enter a place of stillness and quiet. A place where it's just you and The Creator.

Don't turn away from the silence - embrace it!

Don't run from solitude - sit comfortably in it.

Footnotes

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” ~ Mother Teresa

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FootNotes

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” ~ Mother Teresa