"The Sounds of Silence" was the song that propelled the 1960s folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel to international fame. The lyrics of the song tried to make sense of the tragic events surrounding the November 22, 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Why was Kennedy shot? There are lots of theories, but no real clear cut answers. Was it one lone assassin or was there a deeper shadow conspiracy behind the assassination? Again, no one really knows.
Paul Simon’s lyrics poetically project our uncertainties and fears surrounding the assassination. They also resonate a spiritual consciousness and say a lot about how we feel when we don’t have clear and certain answers...
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"... And whispered in the sounds of silence
To this day, researchers, investigators and historians are troubled by the death of JFK. There are no clear answers as to why it happened. Conspiracy theories abound offering little more than foggy explanations with scant supportive evidence. There is little doubt that after 47 years, the events of that tragic day will be shrouded forevermore in mystery and speculation.
As Paul Simon’s lyrics so eloquently describe... Silence is an unnerving experience for humans. Not knowing... not understanding the “why” of tragic events causes us great discomfort. We are vulnerable and fearful in such times. Trust and confidence in governmental institutions, the higher powers in our society, can be permanently damaged.
The Bible also speaks about silence and the fears that come with not knowing. The Psalmist in chapter 22 verses 1 and 2 writes words that echo our fears of the unknown...
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer.
When tragic things, unexpected things, happen to people we love, we shrink in fear because we don’t understand why bad things happen to good people. We don’t understand why God doesn’t intervene and alleviate the suffering of those who love Him. The haunting sounds of silence... no answers, no explanations, can be deafening to our spirit.
Few Christians have chronicled their struggle with God more poignantly than C.S. Lewis. The famed author was deeply in love with his wife, Joy. Though they met and married late in life, few romances bloomed as theirs did. Not long after their relationship began, Joy was diagnosed with cancer. She endured a long and terrible season of illness before she died.
Lewis wrote about his feelings following Joy's death in a series of notebooks that were later published as A Grief Observed just before his own death in 1963. His most telling observation? The silence of God.
He wrote... No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness . . . On the rebound one passes into tears and pathos. Maudlin tears. I almost prefer the moments of agony. These are at least clean and honest . . .
Meanwhile, where is God? . . . When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him . . . if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be — or so it feels — welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become . . .
Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?
Indeed the question... “why”? Many of us have experienced what we believe to be the silence of God. We cry out to God, and there seems to be no answer to our pleadings. We pray, pouring out our hearts, only to hear the words echo back without a reply.
The maddening thing about our frustration with “silence” is that we have been conditioned to expect a direct relation between input and output. If we work a certain number of hours, we will reach a certain level of success. If we place our children in the right schools, enroll them in the right programs and practice the proper procedures, they will turn out as we hoped for. If we invest our money strategically and wisely, we will receive a fair return on our investment.
When we cry out to God and nothing happens, how can we help but feel something's not quite right... and the problem is with the listener... us? Few things are more damaging to a relationship than a sense of not being heard or responded to. It's as if we don't matter, that there is no genuine concern. If God is calling for our total commitment... our very soul, and we are attempting to connect with him at that level, there seems no place and no excuse for His silence.
However, the silence as we perceive it, is seldom permanent and most often misunderstood. Lewis later wrote these words: "I have gradually been coming to feel that the door is no longer shut and bolted.... [I was like] the drowning man who can't be helped because he clutches and grabs."
So what was he clutching and grabbing? What was he missing in what first seemed like silence? Perhaps the most penetrating question is simply this: What happens when we call out to God?
Do really understand how HE responds to us? The Bible reveals that three things happen in our communication with God. We must understand these three things and how God communicates to us, or much of our pleadings to Him will be shrouded in disquieting silence.
NEXT Post: God Hears, God Cares and GOD ALWAYS Responds
