Say Something
From Daring Faith
by Pastor Nave on May 17, 2015
“Say Something” is the first segment in the Daring Faith series. Our key verses for this segment are found in Esther 4:3–17. In this story, Mordecai encourages his niece to speak up to defend God’s people. We learn that God desires His followers to raise their voice no matter the situation, no matter the circumstances—God desires that those who have been redeemed by His blood tell the world (Psalms 107:2)!
God wants His people to praise Him and noise abroad His goodness. But, in actuality, He doesn’t just want “noise,” but a clear sound. Paul instructs the church of Corinth to have a distinctive praise (I Corinthians 14:7). We need to have a voice and let our voice be heard.
The devil is trying his best to stifle the church’s praise because we this is how we evoke the power of God. We need to exercise daring faith to worship God regardless of who is around us. We are commanded to make a joyful and loud noise to the Lord (Psalm 98:4). Scripture doesn’t tell the church to whisper! We can’t lose our voice in a world that is trying to snuff out the Gospel message. We need to go into all the world, preach the Gospel, and tell of His wondrous works (Mark 16:15).
Esther grew up in captivity under the power of the King of Persia, and was eventually selected to be Queen over the people. Scripture tells us in the book of Esther that a Haman convinced the King to give him permission to slaughter the entire Jewish nation. It is in our setting of Scripture (Esther 4:3–17) where Mordecai speaks to his niece, whom he had raised from a little girl.
Mordecai reminded Esther of her heritage, and warned if she did not speak out, she too would be killed. He told her that God had moved her to her current position as Queen because God wanted to use her to bring salvation to an entire nation.
Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (KJV). A word spoken at the right time is invaluable. God has placed us in our environments to say the right thing at the right time—to lift up our voice and make a difference.
It’s never easy to speak up for truth, but it’s always worth it. Esther knew she had to say something to the King. However, if she approached the King’s throne without being called, he would either kill her or extend his sceptre so she could live (Esther 4:11). Esther came to the realization that she had to speak the truth, but she would be breaking the law.
No matter what happens in this life, we cannot allow the world to take our voice. If we don’t speak truth, we run the risk of our nation falling away from the Lord’s blessing and favor. If we are silent, we will be impacted!
We cannot speak out the truth unless we first believe it in our heart. Esther was warned that if she remained silent, God would still perform a work, but it would not include her. She finally called a fast for her people and declared that she would speak on her nation’s behalf. She was going to speak truth regardless if she perished.
In Scripture, we find that Esther has gone from being silent to desiring to speak truth in just a few verses (verse 14 to verse 16). Somewhere in this time, she determined in her heart she needed to speak up. She remembered how great the God was that she served. She remembered hearing the Word of the Lord spoken into her life growing up. It was because she heard and saw the great things of God faith arose in her.
God will give us time to grow boldness and to settle an issue in our hearts. When we step out in faith, God will always be there to honor our efforts. Eventually, the King extended the sceptre to Esther and spared her life (Esther 5:2), destroyed Haman (Esther 7:9), and gave the Jewish nation permission to bear arms to defend themselves (Esther 8:13). Esther was a witness for God that day, and was the catalyst to the victory of the Jewish people!
Today we need to search our hearts and determine where we stand for the Lord and what we have to say about Him. Are we going to speak abroad of His great works, testify about what He has done in our lives, or stay silent? Every day we need to seek the Lord to have Him direct us on how and what we should speak so we can say something fitly spoken. We have no idea what impact our words will have on the world!
