“A Time To Speak”

Ecclesiastes 3

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

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I think this hit me as it did because I’m reading, for the second time, the book:

Sophie Scholl And The White Rose by Annette Dumbach & Jud Newborn

I am struck by the reality that these young people reached a point where they could no longer subdue the thoughts and emotions they sensed and experienced during the spread of Nazism in their native country, Germany.

Let me quote what the book says:

“Sometime in the Spring of 1942, however, Hans [Scholl} and his friend Alexander Schmorell, had decided to act, to move from the realm of ‘spiritual resistance,’ or ‘inner emigration,’ and commit themselves to overt opposition to the Nazi regime.

“The moment of crossing that line - the line separating private (if outwardly conforming) rejection of Nazi Socialism from active resistance - is a hard moment to seize, not only in the case of The White Rose but in countless recorded instances of workers, housewives, and other ‘ordinary’ Germans who resisted the Third Reich.

“It is as if there was no single discrete, conscious moment of decision when someone said ‘Yes, I will act,’ but rather an accumulating force of rage, of incredulity, of desperation that came together inexorably, gathering its strength over months and years until it crested - and drowned personal fear and doubt.”

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Chapter three of Ecclesiastes is a very well known passage of Scripture. A song came out quoting from chapter 3, by the Byrds, in 1965 when I was a kid — Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season) - Of course I had the album. When the song came out I was 11 and really had no idea it came from the Bible. It just fascinated me on several layers.

The aspect of a time and a season for everything, as presented in the song, caught my attention. I didn’t grasp much of what it meant, but I did understand that there was a specific frame of time when things came and went, happened and ended.

Maybe my Aunt’s farm helped me visualize the patterns of seasons, crops, and animals … life and death. And it was the constant thought of death looming over everything and everyone that impacted my desire to see where and how I fit into the scheme of life — was there really a God and, if so, what could that mean for me.

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For Hans, Sophie and their friends there came a “time” when they knew the could no longer “keep silence.” They had crossed that line in time when they knew the could no longer stay silent but had to act and to speak.

I find that very helpful considering the time and season we find ourselves in now.

As Americans, we find ourselves shifting from “trust” in our Country and officials to distrusting the very same. It’s a weird place in time to be. We are endeavoring to find our “footing” as we try to decipher what we’re seeing and hearing on a daily basis.

It’s like we’ve ventured into uncertain waters moving from land, to sea, to a storm, to a hurricane. What are we to do in order to stay afloat in the coming days of increased turmoil, anxiety, fear, jeopardy?

Well …

I believe we are beginning to understand our need to move from passive inactivity to one of a more purposeful, out of our comfort zone, activity … by means of our words and actions.

Gradually we are being placed into a position, through the actions taken by our governmental officials, where we are having to address our own personal strengths and weaknesses. That’s both uncomfortable and challenging but … it’s also necessary in order to move from passivity to engaged activity.

What that all is going to look like I have no idea as of yet. But, I am on the look out for that propelling moment in time like The White Rose members experienced. It was that which enabled them to risk their lives unto death by beheading.

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A clarification:

My personal motivating factor isn’t to “save” our Country. I think - because of End Time Bible prophecy unfolding before us in real time - it’s bigger than that.

What is happening now is the slow disintegration of our freedom to live as Americans and to speak out as believers in Christ. That’s my concern.

If our freedoms as Americans can be curtailed in a certain way, then that has far reaching tentacles into our Faith and Walk in accordance to the Word of God and our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.

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My contemplative mind tells me that we will continue to feel the boa constrictor squeeze concerning the free expression of our liberties and our faith.

In my opinion:

It is no longer “a time to keep silence” but rather ——

“A time to speak”

I’m really hating to Trow So but …