Feb | 22 | The Disappearance of a Ducks Quack

Dream Word – BECOME

2 Kings 3:1-3 Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and mother; for he put away the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he persisted in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin; he did not depart from them. NKJV. 

The Disappearance of a Ducks Quack

I very much dislike the simple and smulchy old picture of a life depicted as a stone thrown into the still water of the universe, the ripples from its insertional impact, slowly spreading out in ever wider and increasing circles, caressing in gentle undulation, everyone else waiting patiently on the surface of the water. Oh please! Pass me a sick bag.

Sure, we all have a peculiar ripple effect on life and the universe, but I think much more importantly than that, we each have a voice which echoes! In other words our actions, our words, the outworked intentions of our heart, our voice, if you will, does most definitely repeat itself and not necessarily in dissipation either but rather, in focus, in strength and in spreading fervour! Unless that is, you are a duck.

It has been an ‘urban legend’ for some time, that a duck’s quack has no echo. Well, of course it does have an echo, the only problem is that you cannot hear the echo, because the quiet elongation of the noise of the initial quack, cancels out the incoming and reflected sound waves. There, knowing that, you can now sleep easier tonight for believe it or not, a lot of money has been spent on investigating the seeming disappearance of a ducks quacking echo!

We all know of the beautiful iridescent qualities of the Opal, reflecting and refracting wavelengths of light even at times, seemingly absorbing them completely. Building on this natural photonic crystal effect which seems to absorb light, there is no doubt that manmade, mass-produced photonic crystals may well lead to a new wave of powerful light driven computers. Now, in the same way a photonic crystal can absorb certain frequency’s of light and reflect others, so sonic crystals can do the same. Manifestations of this sonic phenomena might be heard in the strange acoustic properties of the 'Whispering Gallery' in St. Paul's Cathedral in London, where a whisper can be heard 42 metres away on the other side of the gallery, or maybe even in the Mayan Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá, in the jungles of the Yucután Peninsula of Mexico, where if you stand at the foot of any of the stairways that climb the outer walls and then clap your hands, the resultant echo will sound like the chirp of their sacred quetzal bird, the spirit of the Maya, incarnated in Quetzalcóatl, their plumed serpent god. Interesting eh?

The rediscovery of this strange acoustical physics, where the varying wavelength of sounds essentially interfere with themselves and cancel themselves out, might not only lead to a more peaceful urban environment, but be utilized in military stealth technology such as the coating of submarines with sound absorbing paint, or even in the protecting of our cities against seismic shock waves. It’s all wonderful stuff for sure, but for tonight, my key point in this physical phenomenon, is the fact that ripples of echoes can cancel themselves out!

Our life and especially our voice, ripples its own unique wavelength signature, out into both space, time and the spiritual dimension. Like the physical properties of sound waves, not only can our unique expression of life, our own distinct voice, cause ripples, but more importantly, it can and does, cause deep echoes! Oh, the stir of echoes from ages past that undulate across our cold waters even today! Oh, the past voices that though dead, still speak to us today, loud and long! Yet I tell you, many of these mighty echoes which we should have been hearing today, have become silent ‘might have beens,’ for they have unfortunately, been well and truly cancelled out.

In our text for tonight we see the bad king Jehoram, ‘Exaltation of the Lord,’ the ninth king of Israel, who also happened to do some good. Yes, befriended and rightly influenced and chastised, even by Elisha himself, Jehoram produced a little goodness in his voice. Yet, this voice was lost, was most clearly cancelled out, by his continuing evil.

There is a great lesson in this for us tonight, for in my life, I have heard some great voices, even the greatest I have ever heard, become turned into the sound of a quacking duck, a sad, cartoon caricature orange beaked voice, with no seeming echo. This has happened because the echo of their voice has been cancelled out, usually at the end of their journey, by sin. Yes, silly, stupid, sorry, shameful, sonic crystals of sin, have absorbed their once most glorious echoes. Now, they shall pass unheard into eternity. Now, they shall lie silent in the grave. It’s all very sad.

So what about you tonight? What about your voice? Shall it grow more focused, fervent and strong, or through the sonic crystals of sin, shall it be turned into the simple sound of a sorry duck’s quack?

Yes, remember tonight, that your voice echoes! Please don’t cancel it out.

Listen: - By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. Hebrews 11:4 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, haunt me with echoes of Your people’s voices now long gone. Let me hear their powerful voices speak so powerfully still. May I be lifted and encouraged by their waves of faith. As for me O Lord, may my voice become more focused, firmer, stronger, stouter and may its echoes be heard when I too am long since gone. In Jesus name I pray it, amen.