The Cause of the Voiceless

Every single believer is called to make a difference in their sphere of influence. Sadly, some of us believe that this charge is only for men and women with prominent positions in the church. But that is not true. Loving Christ, living for him, and doing what he says is not the requirememt for just a few — it’s for every single person that claims to be a follower of Christ.

Recognizing that we are supposed to make a difference in our sphere of influence reminds us that we are backed by heaven in whatever God-ordained endeavors we partake in. God is with us because he has called us to it, and he will ensure that we have all the resources — man power, money, and time — at our disposal for use. This also comes with the realization that there are some groups of people who are not as privileged as we are. That means we get the beautiful opportunity to advocate for them, especially those who are unable to speak for themselves.

The Power of Our Voice  

Our voice is a powerful weapon when wielded in the right way. The Bible alludes to how strong voice is at various points throughout the Bible: in the story of the walls of Jericho falling down (Joshua 6:5) and even in Proverbs 18:21 when we are told that death and life lies in our tongue. From the Bible, we’re shown that the words we speak can be tools of inspiration or weapons of destruction. And while God loves us and wants us to choose the former, he gives us freewill to decide how we use our voice.

Advocating for the Voiceless

In Genesis 4, we meet Cain and his brother Abel, both born of Adam and Eve. Both men work hard and bring sacrifices of their labor to God. While God receives Abel’s offering, he does not receive Cain’s, and a spirit of jealousy and murder is released in Cain. In this, Cain tricks his brother into going out into the field with him where he kills him.

God finds Cain and inquires about where Abel is. When Cain does not outright tell God Abel’s whereabouts, God responds, “‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (v. 10). Because God could hear Abel’s spilled blood, he quickly advocated for Abel and enacted a punishment against Cain. God pleaded the cause for someone who could not plead for themselves, taking it a step further and dealing with the issue in the way he saw fit because, well, he’s God.

While we may not find ourselves in such positions of authority (and honestly, thankfully we do not), we can still choose to use our voice to give a voice to others. In fact, Scripture admonishes us to do so in Proverbs 31:8–9:

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. (ESV)

It’s clear: We are meant to fight the good fight for others. This may seem like a heavy calling when we try to do this out of our own strength, but it doesn’t have to be when we take Jesus with us. He shows us what cause he would like us to advocate for, who will be impacted, and how we should advocate for them. We give them voice and agency, and prayerfully, reach the hearts of rulers who will make the necessary changes for the affected group.

Featured photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels; in-text photo by Polina Kovaleva on Pexels

Are You Called to Marketplace Ministry?

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