“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55: 6-7
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Eliminating Artificial Light and Sound
Our world is smothered in artificial light and sound. It’s difficult for most people to escape the glitter and the noise, because they are city dwellers, or they live too close to a city.
As of 2019, almost 83% of the U.S. population lived in metropolitan areas. In Israel, it’s about 92%.
We are so accustomed to artificial light and sound 24/7/365 that we feel almost lost when the power goes out. No power means no television or music playing in the background, pulling out flashlights or lanterns (LED, of course), and firing up the grill. In the winter, it means no heat. In the summer, it means no air conditioning. Under those conditions, most people feel nervous and uncomfortable, almost lost. I suppose no power is a lot like being in prison and being placed in solitary confinement.
No electricity doesn’t feel natural, but it is natural. Our world is unnatural. It’s manmade and artificial. It’s no surprise that the birthrate goes up when the power goes out. Left alone with no artificial distractions, people find ways to occupy their time. What better way to do that than to engage in activities that require no electricity?
In the United States, the backup generator business is booming. Where I live on Lake Hartwell in rural South Carolina, for roughly $15,000, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative will install a natural gas fed backup generator that kicks in instantly anytime power to my home is interrupted. I don’t have to lift a finger, and the generator runs everything in the house.
Since I don’t use natural gas, the $15,000 includes running natural gas from the street to my home. I do have propane, though. It’s a 200-gallon tank, and I use propane for just 2 things: A Weber gas grill and unvented gas logs for power outages in the winter. It’s possible that Blue Ridge Electric’s generators can run on propane. I haven’t checked it out yet, but I’m thinking about it. I guess I’m into creature comforts, too.
We use the Weber gas grill a lot throughout the year. We don’t lose power in the winter very often, so we hardly use the gas logs at all. As things stand now, I fill my propane tank about once a decade. I filled the tank a couple of months ago, because I couldn’t remember when I filled it last. I thought it must be getting low on gas, but I was wrong. The tank was at about 40% of capacity. Be that as it may, I now have a full tank. The next time I start feeling antsy about running out of gas, I’ll fill it again. If I’m still alive, that will be in about a decade.
If my 200 Mbps internet connection goes down during a power outage, I have 5G cell phone backup. On my iPhones and iPods, I have music, radio, and video. Additionally, I have Bose and JBL portable audio devices with very long battery lives. That means I can fill my world with artificial light and sound even during bad times.
Artificial light and sound are huge distractions. Both of them make hearing Yahweh’s voice difficult. My experience has taught me that eliminating artificial sound in particular is a must if I want to develop my relationship with Him. I don’t have to eliminate artificial sound altogether. All I have to do is eliminate it for an hour or so each day.
Yahweh can raise His voice and drown out the noise, but that’s not His modus operandi. He has done that with me a few times. When Yahweh wants to communicate, He certainly can.
In 2006, Katie and I lived in Sapir, Israel for about 2 months. Sapir is in the Arava. It’s the deepest depression on Earth’s surface, and it’s serious desert. There are no forests in the Arava. All you have are occasional acacia trees and areas where date palms have been planted. They don’t grow very tall. Humidity in the Arava is very low, too, so visibility is excellent day and night.
While we lived in the Arava, we had no television, and radio reception was not good. At night we could pick up the BBC, but during the day, we listened to Hebrew and Arabic radio stations if we listened at all.
We explored extensively, and that necessitated at lot of driving. Typically, we would explore places like Be’er Sheva, Dimona, Arad, and Eilat in the Arava, the Judean Desert, and the Negev. From time to time, we drove to Tiberias and explored the Galilee region. We would spend the day in most of those places and drive home at night. When we went to Tiberias, we would spend the night and return the next evening.
In the Arava, night views of the sky are spectacular. The area between the Dead Sea and Eilat is sparsely populated, so there is very little artificial light, and because the humidity is so low, there is virtually no mist. Under those conditions, it’s amazing what you can see in the night sky south of the Dead Sea. Because we didn’t listen to the radio often and we didn’t watch television at all, we communed with our Creator in the Promised Land, and we did it day after day for 2 months. I loved it.
Below is a satellite photo of Israel at night. In the photo, I have identified Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Sapir, and Eilat. You can see how much empty space there is between the Dead Sea and Eilat. Driving home from Eilat at night was a real pleasure. Just thinking about it makes me yearn to return. When we move to Israel, we will live in Jerusalem. That’s out of necessity, but I love Jerusalem. In fact, that’s where I want to live. I can always drive down into the Arava if I need to or want to. It’s just a few miles away.
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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
John 10: 14-18
