Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":
The Wise Man, King Solomon (who also lost much of his God-given wisdom through apostasy) declared that there is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:7). Knowing when to do either, and the courage to do it, is our day by day task. When the Son of God became one of us in the flesh, He would rise early in the morning and seek His Father’s tuition for the day (Isa. 50:4, 5). Thirteen year old Marian Fisher must have prayed that morning before she went to the little school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, where she begged the wicked and murderous intruder to “shoot me first instead of the little girls,” or words to that effect. She knew when the time had come for her to “speak.”
When Jesus was arrested, bound and dragged to the house of Caiaphas, He asked the murderous police to “let these [His disciples] go their way” while He would suffer alone for them (John 18:8). Perhaps Marian had read that story at some time and remembered.
But Jesus also was ready to “speak” up before the high priest in courageous fearlessness. When the cruel “officer ... struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, ... Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me?” (vss. 20-23). That was love on the part of Jesus; He tried to save that man’s soul by appealing to his awareness of justice. For ought we know, the man may later have repented, for Jesus prayed for His murderers, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke
The courage Jesus showed in rebuking the man straightforwardly when He knew he could retaliate with greater evil, is an inspiration to us. Jesus could have spoken up as He did only if in Him, self was already crucified. Solomon was right—“there is ... a time to speak,” and Jesus knew when His had come.
O Father! Please prepare us for when our “time to speak” may “come”!
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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