Good Moring my sweet friends! This is the most beautiful morning!
I saw a show last week about the influence one person can have on a group. The show brought in a group of eight girls and set the stage for bullying. One girl would be unkind and begin to bully another girl who was a little different from the others. Only the two girls knew that it was staged. Then a panel begin to watch with hidden camera to see how the rest of the group responded.
As the bullying began, one or two girls became quiet. It took a little time, but finally one of the uninformed girls began to stand up for the victim of the bullying. Once one girl stood her ground for what was right, then several of the other girls rallied around.
In 2 Samuel, people were rallying around King David and helping him as he had an affair with Bathsheba, and sent orders to have her husband killed. All those who were around David knew what was going on. They were even doing the work at David’s command, for crying out loud! Yet no one had the integrity, and guts, to tell him that what he was doing was wrong.
So God call up Nathan, and told him to go and tell David, to his face, how wrong his actions were, and what God had decided to do about it. Nathan had to go it alone to do what was right.
I can only imagine how Nathan might have felt. David had the authority to kill Nathan for rebuking the King. Yet Nathan feared God more than man. God was trustworthy to the call He gave to Nathan. God equipped him holy boldness to get the job done.
In my own life there have been many times I have seen what was wrong. I was given an opportunity to do the right thing. I am sad to say, that I have not always chosen the right thing. But there are times when, by His grace, I think I got it right.
Several years ago my daughter married a precious godly man. But it was not so easy to say this at first. My daughter married a man of a different race. I searched as hard as I could to find it in scripture where a mixed marriage was wrong; but I could not. Moses married outside of his race, as did Solomon and David. My daughter had married inside of her faith and that was the most important thing to God.
However I live in the deep south, and a mixed marriage can be social death sentence; For yourself and your family. Needing some guidance, I went to a precious woman in my church and ask for wisdom. Her advise to me was, “Show him the love of Christ. That will run him away, or it will change your heart.”
My heart was changed.
Then, because I took a stand for what was right, it became easier for others to love and accept this couple. Still there are some who have difficulty being around a mixed couple. But that is between them and their maker. God gave me the opportunity to give His voice to an unfair social law. What is considered by some, a social Faux Pas became a blessing and a point of ministry.
Here is what I have learned. It is difficult to be the only one taking a stand . But once you have you seen the power of Christ, in a way that would have never be revealed any other way, and the fear is overruled by the joy of obedience.
1) Sometimes we need to be a voice for the victims who are too afraid to speak for themselves.
Proverbs 31:8,9 “Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.
2) When we see unfair and unrighteous acts then God will equip us with the courage, words and actions that we need to take to right the wrong.
Ephesians 4:11,12 “And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.”
3) We will frequently be called to go it alone, or to be the first one to call out “this is not right”. We are to be the ones who show the love of Christ. When we speak out for the victims we are preparing the way for the Lord to do mighty things in our lives as well as theirs.
Isaiah 40:3 “A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.'”
We are called to be that voice in the wilderness, of this world, to partner with the Lord in preparing a way for Him. We don’t have to do this, we get to do this. He really doesn’t need us. He wants us to participate with Him, so we can see His glory. It is my honor to be a voice, in the wilderness for those who have no voice.
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Very inspirational Diane!
Very inspirational Diane!
Thank you Pam. Hope you are doing well. Give your family a hug for me.