Speak Up

Today, I have been without a voice.

I have got some sort of virus or infection and woke up with swollen, bright red tonsils and an inability to swallow or speak properly.

 

I can talk a bit now, but my throat's still quite sore and dry.

 

Not being able to talk properly was horrible.  I have had all of these thoughts and feelings and it feels as though they have been stuck in my throat.

 

I have been voiceless.

 

The Bible talks about those who are 'voiceless' too - about those who cannot say what they want to, or to whom no one listens.  They are the overlooked, the poor, the abandoned, the rejected.  They have been stripped of their voices and the Bible tells us that we should stand up and speak up for them.

 

        "Speak out on behalf of the voiceless,
        and for the rights of all who are vulnerable.

        Speak out in order to judge with righteousness
        and to defend the needy and the poor."

 

        [Proverbs 31:8-9 CEB]

 

 

I have been without a voice for a day, but some are voiceless for the whole of their lives. Some people never have anyone to speak up for them or stand up for them.

 

When we think of those who are 'voiceless' we imagine distant, poorer countries.  We think of strangers.  But there will be people in our own lives who don't feel listened to, who don't feel understood, who don't feel they have a voice.  And they desperately need to know that someone hears them and that someone cares. 

 

They need us to be their voice.

 

They need us to speak up.