Speech Without Words
What is so loud that it can’t be missed and yet so quiet that you can’t hear it?
In the past few years, many television watchers have noticed that shows have become harder and harder to hear. If you’ve had to turn on closed captioning, you’re not alone. It has become en vogue for actors to mumble their lines or for sound directors to mix the audio so that dialogue is drowned out by the score. Explanations abound: heightening the emotion of scenes with whisper-like urgency, an attempt at realism, having to mix the audio for platforms as varied as an elaborate home theatre and a pocket-sized smartphone. Whatever the reason, many viewers have become frustrated. One can easily find critical op-eds and complaints online.
As hard as it is to understand television dialogue sometimes, there is a dialogue going on all around us every day that is easy for us to miss completely. In Psalm 19, David tells us about the shouting that the creation does all around us:
“The heavens are telling the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world."
Psalm 19:1-4, NRSV
Look at all the action words that Psalm 19 gives us in just the first few verses: the heavens telling, the firmament
proclaiming, days
pouring forth speech, nights
declaring knowledge. And despite this, “there is no speech … their voice is not heard.”
“Day to day pours forth speech” — the image David gives us is one of a liquid being poured out and covering everything. Each day is baptized in the knowledge of the glory of the Lord who created it.
And yet, we miss it. Or, at best, we reduce the loud shout of creation to the halfhearted mumbling of a prestige television drama.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem on His way to the cross, the religious leaders criticized Him because the people were making such a fuss over His entry, shouting, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” Jesus told His critics, “If these people were silent, creation itself wouldn’t be able to hold back! The stones beneath your feet would cry out!” (Luke 19:36-40, paraphrase)
The skies declare the Lord’s glory. The stones are ready to shout His praise. Find a moment today to see the grandeur of God’s created world and give thanks that you can know Him through the world he has made.
