MamaArcher's Blog

To Speak or Not to Speak

In worship the message was on Jeremiah and the struggle he faced in his role of preaching.  Jeremiah was great persecuted and physically mistreated due to the message that the Lord gave him to preach.  In Jeremiah chapter 20 is the contemplation that Jeremiah has concerning this struggle.

He struggled with the fact that if he continued to preach the message he would suffer pain.  He also struggled with the fact that if he did not he experienced a consuming fire inside.

If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.  Jeremiah 20:9

Of course it has not been on the same level but I have experienced this somewhat.

I have suffered pain, turmoil, persecution, slander, alienation, and threats because of sharing that which the Lord has taught me.  I have at many times decided to simply be quiet when around certain individuals out self-preservation.  Maybe that is smart but more than likely it is simply a reliance on self to protect me rather than on God.

Some of those times when I have been silent I have often regretted it even while knowing that I most likely avoided a confrontation.  There are indeed times when we are to be silent but if those times of silence are led by the Spirit there would not be regret afterwards.

We must diligently seek and plead with the Lord to guide our conversations and other forms of communications so that we are indeed following the guidance of the Lord and not relying on ourselves.  We should be relying on God for our protection rather than always self-preservation.  This can be a very difficult thing to do especially when proclaiming the Gospel can and often does bring pain into our lives.

The fact remains that Christ died for sinners.  He has purchased his children with his blood.  We are not our own.  Our lives are meant to bring him glory.  Some of the ways we do this is through praise, worship, and obedience.  He calls us to testify and to proclaim.  This is regardless of the circumstances and the consequences.  He is our protector.  Sometimes though we are not shielded in the same manner that we desire to be.  Sometimes we experience pain, turmoil, persecution, and on and on.

We must resist the call of the flesh to preserve ourselves at the expense of the Gospel and to follow the call of Christ when the Spirit leads.  There may be pain that follows the proclaiming of the truth but the burning within will be more than we can contain if we remain silent.