Jewish man playing the shofar horn
Be a voice – not an echo!
By Helen Jesze, 15th July 2016
“Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy,”
Proverbs 31, 9 NIV
“Even in the case of lifeless instruments, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone recognize the tune they are playing unless the notes are distinct? Again if the trumpet, sounds a muffled call, who will prepare for battle?”
1 Corinthians 14, 7 + 8 Berean Study Bible
What are you? What is your life? What is my life? Am I a “voice” or am I an “echo”?
You might ask: Well, what’s the difference?! An “echo” is a repeat or a partial repeat of a sound or words, which something or someone has made or spoken. In some buildings, rooms or corridors, down a well, over the mountains when you call out, often after a short pause the sound is repeated, and we call this an “echo”. I remember the first time that I experienced a thunderstorm in the mountains, when I went to live in Switzerland. The thunder rolled and its echo rebounded from mountain to mountain, through the valleys, an echo much louder and more frightening than I was used to.
The echo cannot make a deliberate sound on its own, it is dependent on the original sound or words, and the place where the sound has been made. In audio processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of a sound. If we, as people, or Christians are an “echo”, what does that tell about us or our Christian life?
The echo Christian
There were two elderly sisters; one talked a lot and was inclined to be bossy, the other was very quiet and when she did speak, she always looked at her sister first, then repeated what her sister had said! She had no opinion of her own or was too frightened to speak it!
An echo person has little or no personal opinion, he only repeats what he has heard or read. He does not think or pray much about a situation, but asks somebody else and follows whatever he is told, instead of finding out the truth or what God has to say about the matter. He is indecisive and sees only superficially, whereas God wants us to see below the surface, and not just what is in front of our nose, circumstantial evidence.
In Psalm 103, 7 we read: “He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.” The Children of Israel saw only the things that God did, but Moses recognized the ways of God. He could see the plan or reasoning of God behind situations, because he had an intimate knowledge and relationship with Him. The Children of Israel did not have a close fellowship with God, so He could not trust them with His secrets and they did not know His thoughts and plans. Therefore, they only saw the outcome – what God was doing in the physical world – and had little or no spiritual perception. At their best times, theirs was only an echo relationship.
The voice Christian
A voice person can speak; he can speak out what God has put in his heart; it shows that person has a message for the world; there is decision and understanding. He has character; that person can stand up and be counted. God wants us to be a voice wherever He has put us, speaking not nonsense or division, but with wisdom, strength and compassion, promoting unity. He is looking today as never before for Christians who will be a voice to speak with their lives, words and actions to those who do not know their God.
In the times of turmoil in which we live, on the political scene, in our own country and throughout the world, God wants to raise up new voices to give divine and prophetic direction and to speak His Truth, to a world where for the most part, that Truth has been watered down or silenced because of political correctness or sin.
In our own world – our family, marriage, on the job, our church family, school, university – here too, God wants to make us a voice. This does not necessarily mean that we are loud-mouthed, domineering, always the first to speak or chip in, never wanting to hear what someone else has to say, being of the opinion that everyone should only listen to us. But a voice person has a certain authority, that when they speak, people listen. He or she has a deposit in their heart and mind which God has put there, which must find an outlet to better their world.
Get rid of the surround stuff
Recently we were having trouble with our television, with the sound being too low. A friend came to help and clicked a certain button, which controlled the surrounding sounds. Now that this was “Off”, the main sounds or the speaking became clearer and louder. In Life, there are many voices clammering to be heard, so that the main message does not come through like it should. It is like a radio where you have to tune to the exact place on the wavelength to get the reception, otherwise the sound is blocked by static and jammed. Satan tries to block the voices God wants to be heard, by putting up spiritual static and filling people’s mental and spiritual hearing with ‘surrounding sounds’.
When I was a small girl, my brother, Douglas, and his friends used to go to the rubbish dump and pick up all kinds of “treasures”. Douglas was always interested in radios and engineering, and he made crystal sets, which were like a primitive type of radio. One of the components he used was copper wire, which ran the length of the garden as an aerial. When it snapped there were pieces of this all over the garden which tangled round our mother’s legs and got into the washing when she was trying to hang it on the line!
Tuning in
Of course, I was very proud to help my big brother with testing the crystal sets. Douglas would be down in the garden and I would be upstairs in his bedroom with the window open, wearing some headphones. “Is that clearer? Is that clearer?” he kept calling up to me, as he adjusted the aerial. How exciting it was when suddenly I got the reception and I could say, ”Yes, that’s much better now! Much better!”
Jesus said in Matthew 5, 37: “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’.” Our life and voice must speak clearly, not saying one thing and meaning another, or we are giving a wrong message. He also said about the scribes and Pharisees and Teachers of the Law of Moses: “So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach,” Matthew 23, 3 NIV. The old proverb says: “Actions speak louder than words”, and that is true.
Clarity of the Voice
It could be a case of Life or Death if the sound made is not clear, but garbled, indistinct or muffled. Just as in old times the trumpeter would sound the alarm on his bugle for the troops to get ready, then give the actual command that they should attack, these bugle notes and their succession had to be absolutely clear, or the troops would be in chaos, not knowing if they should go forward, draw back or get ready, and might then be overtaken by the enemy.
“I am a voice”
John the Baptist was asked who he was. Was he Elijah or the Messiah? He replied that he was ‘a voice’, for he had found in the Old Testament the calling of God for his life in Isaiah 40, 3: “A voice of one who cries: Prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord (clear away the obstacles); make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God!” NIV
God has a place for you, too! Find the situation He wants you to step into, and then do that thing! Listen for the words He wants you to speak and then speak them, at the time and in the way he shows you!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, make me a voice and not an echo! Help me to clearly give the message to my world that You want me to give, instead of just repeating others’ opinions like a parrot learning to speak!
I give you permission to clear away the ‘surrounding sounds’ that would hinder my message and your love shining through my life.
Raise up prophetic voices in this Day to speak the Word of the Lord to a world in chaos. Protect them from every attack trying to silence them, and us too, Lord. In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen
Leave a Reply