It is debatable if voices or sounds affect a person more so than any of the other five senses. For Odysseus and mariners it was the Sirens whose music and voices were so enchanting and alluring that those who yielded always met their deaths when their ships ran aground. For many parents, hearing their young child cry out their name in the middle of the night or a crowd elicits an immediate response. Some actors and singers have a natural voice that is so smooth or soothing that they are paid very handsomely for the use of their voice. Then there are voices clamoring for attention; they are bombarding people with information concerning the Coronavirus that if we listen to them long enough we abandon all hope, hide out in our homes longer, and not to touch or trust anyone/anything. There are familiar voices which bring a consistent reaction. Then there are other voices never heard before but once heard resonate deeply in our souls. What voices are we listening to?
The Bible is replete with many voices. The very first voice was by God who said, “Let there be light” and immediately out of the darkness shot a burst of light the universe had never known. That creative and anointed voice continued on in His creation until He came to man. Upon His greatest masterpiece, He didn’t speak or command; He used His loving, caring, delicate hands to form Adam and then Eve.
It didn’t take long and another voice entered the scene: Satan, that great serpent of old. With enticing speech, Eve yielded to his words. I want us for a moment to consider something. Adam was created first and I am very certain who knew every plant, bug, animal, etc.; heck, he named everything. So I am certain he knew this fruit and where it came from. I don’t think Eve just tossed it into his lap without saying a word and he therefore never questioned it and ate the fruit. Nor do I think Adam was standing right there like a bonehead completely clueless of everything by ignoring the whole conversation between Eve and the serpent. And I know he would had intervened if he were right there with Eve while she approached and involved with the forbidden tree. I believe that she sought him and with her enticing speech Adam ate (remember, she was the one who studied the plant and its fruit and contemplated it; he just ate it) or she made it into a pie so he wouldn’t recognize it.
James chapter 3 emphasizes very candidly the power of the tongue or voices. James declared that the tongue “boasts great things”, sets a forest ablaze with just a few words, the tongue is a fire full of iniquity that defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature (more about that in a bit), “no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” and on James continued.
And no one is exempt from uttering speech that sparks evil and good. 1 Kings 13 records how an old prophet lied to a young prophet. Balaam is hired by Balak to curse God’s people. So even ministers are susceptible to use the power of the tongue to destroy or bless (as we will also see below).
Nabal uttered foolish and harsh words and is later judged by God that even almost got his family killed in the process. Proverbs 14 warns that a foolish woman can destroy a marriage/family by her hands (but it actually is meaning by the words spoken). When it is talking about by her hands is brick by brick her house is destroyed by the day after day of nagging or negative speaking. Job rebukes his wife for speaking as the foolish women because she was speaking out of emotion with no faith or trust in God but rather in what she could see and touch.
We are sometimes the loudest voice of all to our own selves. Elijah, Job, and Jonah declared that their life was no longer purposeful and that it was better off that they should die.
So what are the voices we entertain? These voices—some from outside and some from in our families or even in our heads—sets things in motion, as we pick back up on what James said, that once released can do a lot of destruction and damage. If we were to have an out of body experience—so to speak—for one day to tally the number of negative versus positive things we say and think, I can with almost certainty guess that one side will overwhelmingly be larger than the other. And none of us are exempt; all are guilty.
With all the negatives quickly listed (and there are certainly more, but these were the hot items), is there any hope? As James 3 said, are we condemned to only produce bad fruit and bad water? 1 Samuel 25 records Abigail, Nabal’s wife, who stepped in and with words of promise/prophecy for young David. This cooled David’s anger and she was later brought into the promises of God upon Nabal’s death. God brought perspective to Jonah, Elijah, and Job whose lives impact us and that we still preach countless of sermons from today. And right after the Holy Spirit was poured out on the people assembled in the upper room, people outside declare (see Acts 2:11), “hear in our own tongues the wonderful works of God”.
Perhaps our words need a perspective change? Perhaps our words need to speak life and promise? Perhaps our words ought to declare the wonderful works of God? So whose voice will we listen to and speak?