Spoken For
Numbers 30:14
“But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges that are upon her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard of them.”
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look on and do nothing,” John Stuart Mill once noted, and we’d blush to learn how many of the gravest, most inhumane atrocities in history have been rooted in the soil of a man’s silence. How much irreversible damage is done every day by men who keep their mouths shut instead of sticking their necks on the line? How many teenage girls are pregnant today in part because fathers refused to take them aside, put an arm around them, and warn them of the consequences of sexual promiscuity? How many churches have split into warring factions because a deacon or an elder refused to call out the gossiping members? How many young men have become addicted to pornography or alcohol or even drugs because mentors didn’t have the courage to hold them accountable and ask the hard questions?
I’m reminded here of David’s description of the Christlike man in Psalm 15 and of that all-important characteristic, “Who swears to his hurt and does not change.” I would venture to guess that even the most dominant of women among us, the type-A, all-business, workaholic, modern sort of woman who can juggle a family in one hand and a full-time job in the other, would rather have one strong, truthful, faithful man at her side who isn’t afraid to put a foot down and say ‘No’ than a thousand yes-men who ooh and ahh at her every whim. After all, God made Eve from Adam’s rib, not his backbone! And a spineless man—that is, a truthless man—is a farce of divine creation.
Remember the Scripture that says, “Speak the truth in love,” and note that the primary action of that statement, ratified by the content of truth and the motivation of love, is speech. So, today, don’t be afraid to speak hard words on behalf of others. And when the devil tempts you to remain silent, just consider where you’d be eternally had Christ not spoken for you.