Y’all Listen

Isaiah 6:9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

How many times in life are we misunderstood? It may be a case where the words just came out wrong, a case where we didn’t know how to express what we desired to say, or a time we couldn’t understand why someone couldn’t understand us. Those headings cover most misunderstandings, and the reasons behind them may be complex. We all struggle with the first; misspoken words are a part of life. James epistle puts it pretty plainly about our speech; James 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. It really isn’t that hard to understand why our mouths get us in trouble, for James even proclaims they are from Hell itself, and Satan really knows how to use a tool such as that.

Likely the second category may be slightly related to the first. We can’t find the right words, but our passions have us blurting out the wrong words. We can’t bring to memory what we are really trying to say, but that unruly evil is the rudder that steers the ship astray many times. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 17:27 He who has knowledge spares his words, And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. The Bible is full of the topic of our tongues; the Bible is full of the call to remain silent, and the command to shout it from the mountaintops. This world needs many to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, loudly and clearly from whatever pulpit He has given us. A call to repent from sin, a call to turn from worldly pursuits and live with an eternal focus. A call to preach both the promise of heaven, and the fear of hell to those who don’t believe.

I have been in a season of misunderstandings; a season of all three categories. I have remained silent for a time for the fear of the offense, but that time is over. As God woke me up in the middle of the night, stirring my soul with many things, he called me back to Isaiah six, the chapter of Isaiah’s calling; a calling to an incredibly tough ministry of pointing out Israel’s sin. God called me out early in my walk to a tough ministry; the sins of us Christian’s as a church. Growing up in religion, it was only later in life I understood grace, and I now realize how many of us will not see eternal paradise. A painful calling God has placed upon me, one seemingly more difficult than salvation to the sinner, but the salvation to those who think they already have attained it.

It is as Isaiah said of his own sins, “I am a man of unclean lips, living with those just like me.” I am no greater than you, my list of sins embarrass me, the need for daily repentance is evident in my thought life endlessly. It is of no judgement, but one of God using me to proclaim the truth, to all those he has prepared to hear, and may he grow his kingdom by his own mercy and grace.