Too Much Noise?

Joel 2:3-11
Revelation 19:1-10
There is a deafening roar rising from both Joel and Revelation today, but the sources of the sound are very different. In Joel a plague of locusts infests the land “as with the rumble of chariots,” “ and the crackling of a flame of fire,” causing the earth to quake and the heavens to tremble (Joel 2:5, 10). “Who can endure (such an onslaught)?” asks the prophet (v. 11). This is the day of the Lord, and it is terrible. In Revelation, however, the sound is very different. “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a multitude, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns’” (Revelation 19:6).

The very loudest experience that I’ve had in my life was a rock concert I attended in 1985. My ears were ringing well into the next day. It was at a volume well beyond my comfort level. That sort of noise makes sense when we are talking about the passage from Joel, where comfort is far from the issue. But what about Revelation? There the sound grows out of praise, not judgment, yet it would seem to be just as loud. What then are we to say about these things? Frankly, I’m not entirely sure of what to make of all this noise except to say that perhaps praising God is outside the normal comfort level of humanity, too. After all, this was John’s experience there on the Island of Patmos, a living human being’s vision of the end times. In our current condition we are incapable of relating to God as we should, and the experience of God’s praise is bound to be as physically jarring as oceans and thunderpeals.

Clearly, God is someone we can never get entirely comfortable with––and certainly not someone we can control. Ever since Adam and Eve hid themselves in the Garden of Eden we’ve been ill at ease in the presence of our Creator. The good news is that God appears to be willing to remain in covenant with us, delivering judgment to be sure, but also accepting our feeble praise. And as long as God is with us, then I believe we will be able to handle being with God.

Prayer: O God, we thank you for your continual presence in our midst. May we learn to offer you praise and to live according to your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.