I recently heard a story on the radio about "pink noise." I was somewhat suspicious of this term because I know how color-related names get out of control. After all, the names of paint colors border on the ridiculous. Whatever happened to "light green?" Now we have "spring moss" or "meadow breeze" or "garden mist" to contend with. Calling sounds by color names is opening up a can of worms. But I digress.
The radio article on "pink noise" caught my attention because it promoted the sound as a filter for blocking out unwanted noise. It's called "pink noise" because it's between "white noise" and "red noise" in its frequency. I was interested because I thought it might help me with a problem I face: hearing too much.
I've always had a keen ear for hearing things. When I worked in the defense industry I was often in an office environment with open cubicles. I could hear everything — and it's amazing what "everything" included. I still hear everything, but now it's working against me. When I'm in a crowded place I have trouble hearing conversations with people near me because they blend in with everything else. I hear too much.
Well, it turns out that "pink noise" won't be much help to me. It only masks the unwanted sounds , it doesn't filter them out. With "pink noise" we still hear the sounds we don't want to hear, they're just covered over.
Today's Bible lessons speak to us about something far greater than a noise that covers over what we don't want to hear (or what we shouldn't be listening to). We see both in the negative experience of Eve and in the positive experience of Jesus, the power of God's Word to overcome the deception that Satan would have us listen to. In our world filled with all sorts of filth and lies, we have grown accustomed to hearing too much. It works its way into our thinking, speech, and attitudes. But the recreating power of God's Word doesn't stop at covering over this noise, it removes and replaces it. In His Word we have power, we have hope, we have life. It's God's message of love and forgiveness — a message of which we can never hear too much.
