Microphone

I was organizing jewelry this morning and came across a pair of microphone earrings my husband kindly gave me while we were dating. I was reminiscing about the compliments I had received from other singers on a worship team I was on at the time. They oohed and ahhed over the reminder that we were using our voice for God’s good purposes. They gave accolades to my soon to be husband for his thoughtful gift. The emblem was a symbol, a reminder, of how we women could use our voices. When I first started singing on the team, the worship leader would ask me to sing solos periodically. I would be sick to my stomach for hours before those services. It made me physically ill to have the responsibility of carrying a godly message through this muddied vessel. My confidence increased over time, and I found new ways to manage the fear, but I never gave up trying, failing forward, toward the goal. God was to be worshipped, and I deeply wanted to take part in helping the people of God raise those holy hands to their Savior.

Afraid

Fast forward a decade or two and I am still reminded of resounding fears of using my voice for God’s good purposes. This fear has always seemed to follow me, in speaking or in song. More often than not, I’ve been cautioned by the words of supposed wise women to keep my words hidden and my mouth closed, as it is for men to speak and women to be silent. They base this belief off of 1 Corinthians 14:34. I wonder how many times we have used this biblical text completely out of context, to simply silence something we may be uncomfortable to hear, specifically when a woman says it. When I am reminded by those ‘wiser’ women as to why I should keep my mouth shut, maybe their intentions are not always for my good, or even for yours. I recognize I am the weaker vessel, but this kind of silencing message is so risky and unkind. We can honor God with our words, just as we can with our humility. We can speak and teach of biblical truth without carrying the role of a pastor. I am consistently reminded of my place (truth be told, my gender), as to why God cannot use me to speak truth. This simply is not biblical truth. Side note, if God can use a donkey (Numbers 22:28), perhaps he could use women to? This mindset is pharisaical bondage and it is holding the women of God back in the shadows while the enemy puppeteers their thoughts in the dark recesses of their minds because of conversations we have collectively assumed we cannot have. Yet, I know God has directed my path. He has shown me that His plans for me are good (Jeremiah 29:11) and that my voice is set apart for his good purposes. Being a good steward of God’s Word ought not be a punishable offense, particularly in our modern-day Christian culture. If women were instructed to keep their mouths closed, God quite simply would have had the wisdom to not give us a mouth.

Be Bold. Be Brave.

You see, since I can remember, God has called me to speak up when others shrink back. He calls us all to speak hard truths in hard places. You cannot deny this truth as we delve deeply into Scripture. There seems to always be a godly remnant (biblically speaking), pushing in with a holy counter culture into the wickedness of the day. Unfortunately, just as in biblical times, there is plenty of wickedness to speak into, but instead, I find us believers retreating and hiding our microphones.

Why? I surmise fear is still the driver of keeping our voices hidden.

We fear causing an offense. We fear that if we speak wrongly, it may cause harm. But all this ‘not speaking’ is causing plenty of harm of its own. Our silence has allowed for an increased waywardness of man. Our deemed acceptance methods have not loved the lost well; it has driven them deeper into the patterns of sinful, unchecked, unholy behavior. If we accept the lost as they are and affirm that they stay there, that is love, right? Wrong. God disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:6, Proverbs 3:12, Psalm 94:12, Jeremiah 30:11,12). This response does not make us the heavy hand of discipline, but it does make us the carriers of the ultimate message of what real love truly looks like. Love does not accept sin, it rebukes it (Proverbs 27:5).

Quite simply, we are message-carriers, truth-carriers, and hopefully even microphone-holders at times. It can be quite challenging to carry the message of Christ with closed mouths. Open them up. The world is in dire need of the Word of God. Get those microphones ready. Jesus is coming back and we want to be sure we have not hidden talents (Matthew 25:14-30) because of fear that may be holding us back.

Be brave, dear one.