I am learning Biblical Hebrew, one of the key texts in all of scripture is Deuteronomy 6:4, also known as the Shema. Here is the text:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one
The word “hear” is shema. It’s a verse that observant jews would recite throughout their life. It is a reminder of who their God is, and it goes on to talk about how God’s people are to follow after God with all their heart, mind and strength.
I have been spending a good amount of time learning this verse in Hebrew. If you would like to hear what it sounds like you can click here.
This morning I was listening to an old episode of the Radiolab podcast. They were talking about how they work with sound to tell stories (download it here). Radiolab does interviews with experts and they create really deep auditory experiences. This is one of my favorite podcasts. You can hear all of them at Radiolab.org.
This statement really struck me, “Sound is touch at a distance.”
Sound is really made up of waves that travel through the air and they travel through our ear canals and touch the tiny little bones and hairs in our ears and our brains somehow translate all of that into something that we can understand.
If sound is just touch at a distance, what happens to us when we hear, shema, the words of God. God’s words are more than a word on a page. When we hear them outloud, we are touched by the words of God.
We make contact with God, through his word when he hear it.
And when we pray, God hears us. Do our prayers then touch God?
So take the time to hear the words of God
Shema Israel, adonai elohenu, adonai echad.
Hear O Israel, The LORD our God, The LORD is one!
JasonDeuman.com 