It’s Time to Speak Up

Have you ever been in a heated discussion and you defensively declared, “don’t put words in my mouth!”? Well listen to what God says in Isaiah 51:16

“I have put MY WORDS in your mouth…and covered you with the shadow of my hand…”

Okay, maybe that is not such a bad thing. Our God can put HIS words in our mouths! Wow, God gives us His words. He gives them individually …personally …specifically to each one of us.

Notice it does not say He puts those words in our head. He puts them in our mouth. The crazy thing about words, is that they are meant to be heard. He gives them to us for others to hear what He has to say.

I am guessing as believers, many of us are obese with God’s words. We hear them, we read them, we watch them and yet I am not so sure we declare them the way we could. They lose their meaning as they get pushed away by all the other things we feel we “need” to say.

But look at what the Bible says about God’s words. They…

• give us life, especially when were overwhelmed. psalm 119:25
• give us hope. Psalm 119:147
• allow us to be exactly who God made us to be and ready for every good work that God has prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
• are useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
• taste delicious and feed our hungry souls. Psalm 119:103
• are alive and they cut through everything! His words get straight to the core of things in the most loving way. Hebrews 4:12
• have always been and always will be. They can be trusted to be true. They were with God and they are God and all things were created through them. John 1
• are the same words that marked out the heavens and spoke life into being. “God said…” and it came to be.  By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. Psalm 33:6
• are a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. His word guides us and shows us where to go and what steps to take to get there. At times a neon sign, but mostly a small flashlight to guide our every step. Psalm 119:105
• bring joy and delight to our hearts. Jeremiah 15:16
• help us to do what is right to know what is right; they help us not to sin. Psalm 119:11
• are food for our soul. Matthew 4:4 says, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” His words satisfy the depths of our being when nothing else seems to work. It is pure nutrition and sustainable energy.
• will accomplish ALL He has intends. Isaiah 55:11
• are spirit and life. John 6:63
• reveal what is truth amidst all the other voices we hear and the chaos around us. Psalm 119:16

He has put all that into OUR mouths!

He puts His word there for us to share; for us to declare to those around us. I don’t know about you, but I do not speak them as often as I could. Whether it’s my pride holding back love towards those I’m closest to, or fear preventing me from speaking up when God has something very specific to say, I can be silent. I can speak my own words without hesitation, but not always God’s.

I am guessing I am not alone in that. Here is what so cool about our God, He knows all about our fears and pride. Read what he says next in Isaiah, “(I have) covered you with the shadow of my hand…”

TRANSLATION – Do not freak out, you are always safe with me! You do not have to be afraid to say what I’ve put in your mouth to say.

Whether those words are vulnerable encouraging words or words to teach and give insight, we must trust Him with what He has given us to say.  Many of us are mute out of fear or indifference. We have his Word and yet we are silent. It is so important to KNOW that God covers us with the shadow of HIS hand. In the NLT version it says, He “hides us safely in his hand.”

And why is that such a big deal? Look at what comes before and after these verses. Check out what those hands have done:

For I am the Lord your God,
    who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar.
    My name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
And I have put my words in your mouth
    and hidden you safely in my hand.
I stretched out the sky like a canopy
    and laid the foundations of the earth. I am the one who says to Israel,
    ‘You are my people!” (Isaiah 51:15-16)

He is in control from top to bottom. He is God and when our heart is seeking after his, we have no reason to be insecure, afraid, nervous or feel unworthy when we speak His words. We can be confident that we are hidden safely in His powerful hand and that He always covers us.

He says that we are His people. He says that we are His children. He says we are dearly loved. Because of that, we have nothing to fear and no reason to believe any lie that causes us to feel like we should be silent.

In the meanwhile

May we daily “be still” and choose to remember who God is and then confidently, with grace and love, speak the words he has put in our mouths to those He has put in our lives.