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Silence is… Deadly
I’m currently a little over halfway through this “slap Brian in the face” book called The Silence of Adam by Dr. Larry Crabb. The message is pounding me big time, and I’m not certain what to do about just yet.
Men are called to move into darkness, to keep moving ahead with purpose and strength even when they cannot clearly see the path before them. (The Silence of Adam, pg. 61)
Having been raised up in the church for as long as I can remember, it has always been commonplace to sort of joke around (and poke at women) about how sin entered the world. You see, it was “Eve” who spoke to the serpent, it was “Eve” who was deceived by the serpent, it was “Eve” who took the first bite out of the forbidden fruit, and it was “Eve” who enticed Adam to also take a bite – ie. sin’s entrance into the world was “Eve’s” fault! Right?
Well, what was Adam doing the whole time? I mean, scripture seems to imply that he was standing right there the whole time. I’ll tell you what Adam was doing… he was doing NOTHING! He stood there passively and allowed Eve to have this little discussion with the serpent – if your wife is talking with a snake don’t you think you should at least say something? He stood there silently as the serpent deceived Eve – he knew the truth of what God had told them, why didn’t he jump in at this point? He did not chime in when Eve took the fruit and was bringing it to her mouth – couldn’t he have said something like, “hey honey, shouldn’t we talk about this first?” And then he brainlessly took the fruit and bit into it himself.
Adam’s silence was lethal. It brought the severing of relationship. And ultimately it brought death. (pg. 98)
I’m being convicted about how often I remain silent, and I’m not sure what to do about it. How many times have I known that a friend was going to make a mistake and not called out warning lights? How many times do I retreat from a difficult challenge just because I’m uncertain of what the outcome will be? My finances have been a constant struggle since the failure of my first business, and when I feel overwhelmed and enslaved by them I ignore it and pray that my problems go away. And how many times have I not asked out a beautiful girl who I was attracted to under the guise of “not knowing if it was God’s Will or not?”
Like I already mentioned, I still have much of the book left to read, and while I’m still toiling with what this means for me I do know one thing for sure – if I really truly trusted God, I would not be silent, I would not be passive, I would not be still, I would not intentionally forget, I would not ignore. And if this is a challenge that essentially every man faces, how do I overcome? I have no clue how, but I will.
Men who spend their lives finding God are quietly transformed from mere men into elders: godly men who know what it means to trust a person when there is no plan to follow: spiritual fathers who enter dark caves that their children run from; Christlike mentors who speak into that darkness with strength instead of control, with gentleness instead of destructive force, and with wisdom that cuts through the confusion to the beauty beyond. (pg. 102)
