Tidings for Tuesday
And He was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake, and the people wondered. Luke 11:14
Well might the people wonder! Those who had any knowledge of the Old Testament knew the significance of a dumb person speaking. Isaiah 35 plainly speaks of the Messiah, and lists several signs of His coming, including speech – songs, actually – from the dumb. This man was not the first or the last dumb person who Jesus released from their silence. The Messiah had indeed come, and today he gives speech to those who he has saved.
A wise person once said we should do more than speak, we should say something. Everybody around us has no trouble opening their mouths and making a noise, but how much of it is worth listening to? We hear people discussing the weather, gossiping about neighbours, discussing the news, and swapping jokes. Much of the talk around us serves as a social lubricant to keep us in touch with each other. But most of it is very empty, and contains little of real enduring value. But the Lord Jesus is able to loosen our tongues to speak things worthwhile.
In our unsaved days, our tongues at worst uttered blasphemies, and at best muttered religious emptiness. But our Salvation has loosened our tongues to worship, testify, and witness for the One who is our Redeemer. Worship was impossible when we did not know Him. But we have come to know and love Him. We have explored His Word and discovered so much about Him. We have experienced His loving care and guidance since we first trusted in Him. Well might we worship Him.
Folks around us who do not know our Saviour need to hear about Him. And who better to hear from than you and me who have experienced His saving grace and His tender kindness? If we tell them what He has done – and is doing – for us, we might cause them to realize they need to come to know Him too.
We can’t all preach the Gospel. But we can all live the Gospel. And we can all support the furtherance of the Gospel. It meant little or nothing to us when we were unsaved, but now that our tongues have been loosed, we love the sweet strains of the grand old message. We love to tell the story, and to hear it being told. Only those whose lives have been transformed by the power of the Gospel can truly pass on this message.
Yes, we are no longer spiritually dumb. How much use do we make of this wonderful deliverance? -Jim MacIntosh