by Tad Lindley
I remember when I was a younger man that chainsaws were really loud. I often ran them without ear protection and my ears would ring all night after working on wood. Eventually a day came where the volume of the chainsaw no longer bothered me. I guess they started making them quieter. It happened without me even noticing it.
Qaillun?
As chainsaw technology seemingly was advancing, I noticed some other things happening as well: 1) people voices got quieter, often times when I asked someone their name I would have to lean toward them, cup my hand around my ear, and say, “Qaillun?”, 2) I would have to stare at people’s mouths when they talked, 3) in a crowded place, like a school gym, or a restaurant, I couldn’t hear anything in front of me, only the background noise.
You don’t have to be an ear doctor…
Most of you can skip medical school and go straight to diagnosing my situation. Chainsaws, shotguns, and 2-stroke engines are all as loud as they ever were, it is Bro. Lindley’s hearing that has changed. Through repeated exposure to loud sounds, my hearing has become desensitized to what once would have made me instantly cover my ears to protect them.
The desensitization of sin
Unfortunately, sin is upon our soul like loud noise to our ears; we get desensitized over time, and what once really bothered us becomes comfortable. Once we fell asleep in our Apa’s arms as a small child, but now we threaten to kill him if he doesn’t give us money for drugs. Once we blushed when they told us someone thought we were good looking, but now we have slept with so many different bodies that we lost count.
Case in point: David
David had been a musician in the palace. He played gospel music to soothe the mentally ill king, Saul, when he had fits of madness (I Samuel 16:14-23). David was recognized by God and anointed to replace King Saul while David was still a teenager (I Samuel 16:1-13). He killed Goliath (I Samuel 17:50-53), thereby saving Israel from the Philistines. We know from I Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22 that young David was described as “a man after God’s own heart.”
Where did things go wrong?
Somehow as he grew older, David engaged on the slippery slope of sin. As a young man he was out in front of the army of Israel, leading them in battle, but over time, we find him skipping the battle and sending others to fight. Whether it was from watching too many Hollywood movies, listening to ungodly music, skipping church, letting his bible get dusty, or spending his prayer time checking Facebook, we don’t know the cause. At some point though we find a man who has become desensitized to sin.
How gross David got
In II Samuel 11 we read about how David became completely comfortable with the profane. While his friend, Uriah, was out fighting in Israel’s army, David slept with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. She became pregnant. David tried to scheme to cover up the pregnancy by bringing Uriah back to Jerusalem to sleep with Bathsheba. When Uriah refused to sleep with his wife, David had Uriah murdered several days later, and then married Bathsheba. It was not until David’s pastor, Nathan, came by to visit David that David was able to have a moment of sanity and realize how gross his sin had become.
Restoration of what you have lost
I will never have the hearing I did as a child. That is gone through foolish choices that I made. But concerning sin, we have a God that can restore us from desensitization to sin. We have a God that can deliver us from the grip of sin. When David’s eyes were opened to the darkness in his life, he cried out to God. You can actually read his prayer of repentance, it is found in Psalm 51. Here are some highlights:
•Verse 1, 3-4: Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
•Verse 2: Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. In the New Testament, this happens when people, having repented, are baptized in Jesus’ name for the forgiveness of sin (see Acts 2:38, 8:16, 10:48, 19:5)
•Verses 10-11 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. The right spirit is the Holy Spirit. We know from John (7:37-39) and Acts (1:8, 2:38-39), that we can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives, restoring us from the slippery slope of sin.
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
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