Really I meant Know When to speak. Joshua 6:10
The Lord led me here while I was fasting. Just the night before, I met with some friends for a small bible study where we read Isaiah 58. I remembered specifically where it talks about keeping the Sabbath holy and honorable, not finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words.
But on this particular day during my quiet time with God, I didn’t have much to say. Before I opened my bible I said, “Lord, meet me here. I feel discouraged and I’ve convinced myself that I don’t need You today.” Because for some foolish reason I thought there was no point in meeting with Him if I had nothing to say.
On the day I had nothing to say, God showed me that the one thing I needed to say, was something my pride would never let me say: I need to be quiet. He first led me to Number 30:2. He then led me to Joshua 6:10.
Joshua was leading people to one of the biggest breakthroughs they’d ever witness. And in verse 10 he said, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, “Shout! Then you shall shout.”
I have had my share of struggling with authority. Even more so, I’ve had my share of speaking when I wasn’t supposed to.
I say the thing no one else will.
I call things out if I sense injustice.
I vent to my therapist about things that don’t seem fair.
What you are saying may not be wrong, but when you say it can be the make or break to your breakthrough. It took seven days of marching silently before Joshua told them to shout. And even that day, it wasn’t until the seventh lap of marching that Joshua finally said “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city!”
I try to reason my way through things and I probably would’ve been the one to shout early. Or turn to my friend wondering who this guy thinks he is telling us (but really me) to remain silent. I have realized that I don’t have a problem with submitting, I have a problem with submitting to a will that goes against my own.
Before I am digitally judged, it’s the same for many of us. You don’t like your time wasted either. You don’t like being mistreated any less than I do. You don’t want your values compromised just like I don’t. I am just one of the few that will actually say it. Or at least I used to be.
My therapist recently challenged me to take one month and say nothing in person, but everything in prayer. This was confirmed weeks later during a conversation I had with one of my pastors, who challenged the exact same thing. I can hear them both simultaneously as I’m writing this: “Instead of calling everything out, why don’t you just pray for them?” I answered as if it was a question, but I knew it was really a command. The ugly truth is, my inability to choose prayer over confrontation boils down to the disbelief that my prayers would actually work. I couldn’t fathom someone actually changing without being told (by me) that they’re wrong.
“So you want to be everyone’s Holy Spirit?” That’s what my therapist said.
To have a problem with submitting to a will that goes against my own is to ultimately have a problem with God. If I can’t believe He can change something without my help, do I really believe He is who He says He is? His will is almost never going to align with mine, or yours, or anyone’s. But His will is always better. And that’s what makes Him God.
The walls of Jericho fell because the Israelites were humble enough to be silent. He was able to lead me to Joshua because I was humble enough to be silent. He didn’t keep me silent, but He didn’t let me speak until He spoke first. Which is exactly the order it should always be.
Silence is not always the loss, and speaking is not always the win. Submission to the Holy Spirit is.
The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint,
Proverbs 17:27, NIV
and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.
