The Voice…no, I am not talking about the American reality television singing competition which is broadcast on NBC. I am talking about the voice of Siri, an application for Apple’s iOS which works as a personal assistant and knowledge navigator answering questions, making recommendations, and performing actions.[1] On October 2011, Siri was introduced to the world with the iPhone 4S. Since then this voice-activated feature has been a wildly popular application and has also been the brunt of many jokes.
For a long time, the voice of Siri has been a closely guarded secret by Apple, Inc. When names have been suggested, Apple would refuse to deny or affirm whether or not these names were indeed the voice of Siri. But on October 15, 2013, CNN broke the story and revealed the human voice behind all that pioneering technology.[2] CNN disclosed that Susan Bennett, a voiceover actor living in suburban Atlanta, was indeed the voice of Siri.
We have just been through several chapters of The Story were we have witnessed the history of the Israelites being ruled by wicked and godless kings. These wicked kings that ascended to the throne were not just exceptions, but rather the rule. Out of the forty or so kings that ruled the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, only five were good. The rest garnered the shameful moniker of “doing evil in the sight of the Lord.” As a result, judgement by God ensued and the powerful nations of Assyria, Babylon and Persia conquered and subjugated the Hebrew people, destroyed their Temple and carted their best and brightest to foreign lands.
After multiple generations of being ruled by wicked kings, the spiritual condition of the people wanes and hearing of God’s Law, God’s Word, and God’s Voice is neglected. Enter Nehemiah. Nehemiah led the third and final wave of exiles back to Jerusalem. He organized the workers and rebuilt walls in 52 days. But Nehemiah knew that the rebuilding of the walls was not enough, he needed to restore the spiritual life and vigor of the people. He assembles all the people and has Ezra, who is placed on a high platform, read God’s Law to them. The result was nothing short of a revival. After a very long hiatus of not being spiritually fed, many hear the Voice of their God for the first time. They are overjoyed and overcome with emotions. Not only do they hear God’s Voice, but are reacquainted again with the living God behind that Voice. This is the same God that promised them that He would be their God and that they would be His people.
What else is there to say? Come Sunday morning March 15 at 8:45 or 11am at Centreville Presbyterian Church.
Jesse Mabanglo Associate Pastor
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siri.
[2] http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/tech/mobile/bennett-siri-iphone-voice/
