When Jesus made His way into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday He told the carping religious leaders that the very stones would cry out in testimony to His messianic ministry to save the world through His life, death, and resurrection. Every voice was raised to praise the God who had determined to save His people through the work of Christ, now arriving for His enthronement on the cross. The human voice will praise God one way or another. He will be revealed to the world as the saving God either through the voice of faith or by the stones cast by those who hate God's salvation. God calls us to repent of our silence. Our stony hearts must be broken unto speech. He feeds His Word to us that we might re-say what He has said to us in His Son. Speaking for God is speaking with God. This is an act of fellowship; that God has so graciously given His Word over into our mouths to be spoken with Him and for Him.

 

We will raise our voices to confess the divine truth, because there is no option. Either we will speak or God will find another way to proclaim His salvation to the world. He does not call us to ensure the result of our speaking. This should not concern us, for it is His Word. He will bring the fruit. We should trust His promise that the fields are white unto harvest. We should not believe our reason or senses. They will tell us that the truth is not in vogue, that people are leaving the church, that we are aging into oblivion, and that we will die out in a generation. What arrogance there is in this calculus! We are telling our gracious heavenly Father that what He sees, we can see better, and what He promises, we can deny. We should be praying the Lord of the harvest that He would send laborers into those fields white unto harvest ( Mt 9:37-38), instead of being so doubtful.

 

You may say, "No one is listening right now." Yes, it seems that everyone is concerned about their own affairs that they have no time to listen to the Lord and His messengers. Everyone is capable of pleading that they are too busy with work, children, home, vacation plans, etc. Then who will speak for the Lord? If we turn our hearts to stone because we are careless about the business of the Lord, is there not the threat that He will crush us into speaking for Him? Did not the very rubble of Jerusalem speak eloquently of the Lord's freedom and His burning wrath against complacency? The stones spoke. We are called to proclaim the truth of the Lord even when we think that none are listening. The Apostle commanded: "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching" ( 2Ti 4:2). There are many times when proclaiming the Word of God is supremely inconvenient to you. However, such inconvenience to you is the cross-shaped character of speaking for God. Such speaking, even if no one appears to be listening, will still be praise of God. And you will let God use His Word how He sees fit to use it. We must not remain silent, for God will speak.