Can You Hear the Deep Note?

Can You Hear the Deep Note?

“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” (Psalm 42:7)  I love music!  Primarily, I listen to gospel, sacred, classical, jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, and adult contemporary music.  I listen for the intricate and dynamic ways in which artists compose and perform their works.  Although I have heard Beethoven’s symphonies countless times, I still listen each time that I hear them on the radio for an orchestra’s mastery of certain movements.  Interestingly, God through spirituality plays multiple symphonies in an attempt to lure us into a deeper and greater relationship with Him.  In the midst of daily hustle and bustle, do we hear the deep note of the symphony God plays?

Nature bears manifold witness to the glory of Almighty God.  A trip to the Grand Canyon, the mountains of upstate New York, the fall foliage of New England, a cruise in the Atlantic, a trip to the Mayan ruins, and standing near the might rushing waters of Niagara Falls, all, applaud the handiwork of the Holy Creator.  We miss these monuments of faith and divine revelation when we allow our busyness to rise to a crescendo of noise that drowns the graceful, celestial symphony of God’s love, goodness and faithfulness toward us.

We miss God’s message primarily because we fail to listen.  Enslavement to technology, inclusive of unrealistic demands positing the necessity of material acquisition in contemporary life, and divergent “priorities” (arguably idols) of modern life, deafens us to hearing the voice of God.  Actually, it seems we put our hands over our ears.  We cannot hear the deep note because we do not exert time energy to listen for it.

In a collection of meditations entitled, The Centering Moment, Howard Thurman, an African-American, Baptist mystic, encourages us to take time to listen for the “genuine sound” of Almighty God.  Thurman insists we can only hear God’s symphony when we quiet ourselves in solitude.  Essentially, meditation is a nonnegotiable daily practice to develop personally and grow spiritually. 

Meditation has two significant purposes.  It is first the place where we withdraw from worldly demands and directly focus upon Almighty God.  In these “centering moments,” we hear the deep notes of God’s symphony of love, faithfulness, compassion and peace.  These periods of withdrawal enable the divine Potter to reveal His majestic and mysterious ways of putting the broken pieces of our lives back together.  In the deep recesses of our minds, closets of our hearts and cellars of our psyches, we find liabilities in our personalities.  Unfortunate traits prevent us from actualizing our God given talents and abilities.  They fragment our lives and inhibit us as it relates to knowing and fulfilling our destinies.  If we willingly pull aside and listen for God’s voice, we receive divine guidance in making something new with our broken pieces.  Re-creation is the first definitive benefit of withdrawal into the spiritual practice of meditation.

“Self-mastery” is the second objective of meditation.  According to Galatians 5:22-23, self-control is the final fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Discipline is foundational to success and excellence.  That incontrovertible fact is no less true as it pertains to spiritual matters as it is to vocational and professional concerns.  Meditation empowers a person to beat his body into submission and bring his entire being under the direction of the Lord.  It is very unlikely we will develop as spiritual beings if we fail to discipline our physical instincts.  In fact, inability to control physical yearnings is an underlying cause within addiction.  The seven deadly sins (pride, covetousness, gluttony, envy, sloth, lust and anger) manifest themselves physically.  Nevertheless, “self-mastery” within daily meditation empowers a person to discover the root of character defects.  Divine revelation equally yields divine wisdom to resolve our personal problems.

Unfortunately, many people in church are very uncomfortable with silence.  We awake and turn on the television, radio or some other device.  We keep these modern conveniences blaring in the background even if no one is watching or listening.  We feel compelled to have some kind of sound.  In worship, many churches do not observe a meditation period.  There is upbeat music and preaching from start to finish.  There are rarely periods of silence, if at all.  Yet, Thurman maintains silence is the fundamental prerequisite to obtaining riches meditation offers.  How to handle broken pieces and progress toward self-mastery come to those people who wait in silence.

Thurman, finally, says silence and meditation are necessary to rejoin the world’s struggle.  These spiritual disciplines are just as important for those engaged in the fight for justice and equality as they are for weekly worship and personal devotion.  Fragmented people who lack self-control are inherently incapable of making the world a better place.  Not surprisingly, such people are actually a part of the problem they attempt to solve.