Power to Speak and Power to Stay Silent

By Josephine Lim-Weston

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control]. - 2 Timothy 1:7 Amplified Bible (AMP)

Last week, I with many London commuters faced terrible traffic getting into work and getting home due to closures of both Blackwall Tunnel and Dartford Crossing. We had to take alternative routes to continue our jouney. The entire journey for the day took me almost 6 hours.

During the final leg of my journey home on the bus it was packed. Nobody seemed wanting to offer their seats for anybody even to heavily pregnant women; and more people were pushing in to get onto the already packed bus so that the bus driver had to order those obstructing the front door to get off otherwise the bus would not be going anywhere.

A few got off the bus while those blocking the front door still would not budge. Seeing that, one of the very heavily pregnant women stood up and said, "As you can see I am going to pop any moment. If it happens, we'll not going anywhere at all. If you could please so kindly to get off the bus and take another bus just at the corner so this bus can continue its journey. As you can see there are two pregnant women on the bus. We would appreciate if you could so kindly get off the bus."

After a while a few more got off although a few disobeyed. The bus driver decided for the sake of the majority of the "good" passengers to continue the journey. So there I was standing and holding to the safety bar on the bus till i reached my bus stop, but in my heart I admire and respect the courage and power of this pregnant woman who stood up for fellow passengers. She spoke with kindness, respect and unwavering confidence in the midst of chaos and misery. Thanks to her we were able to continue our journey home.

After a long journey, I got home to make dinner. My husband got home and he rested while I was busy preparing dinner. I wasn't too happy that my husband didn't offer to help in the kitchen this time. (He would usually ask). I was considering saying something about it.

I asked the Lord for wisdom of what I supposed to do. So I kept quiet and carried on making dinner. Then I totally forgotten about saying to him afterall. After dinner, he asked me what else we need to do (to get ready our house as my mother in grace (mother in law) is coming to stay this bank holiday). I listed to him and straightaway he jumped off the sofa and carried out the tasks. I was impressed how much he did through the week.

This taught me about what 2 Timothy 1:7 is all about. Have power and self control to stay quiet even though we feel it's right for us to be "honest" and confront others of how we feel so they can improve and change. But, over the years, I realised it's not the nagging, blaming or finger pointing that change someone but by our gentleness and self control as well as presenting our request to God in silent prayer that bring real change to someone much more than we could achieve by our own strength or tongue lashing. By having sound mind and control over our tongue, peace and love prevail in our hearts and overflow to all those around us. There's time to speak and time to be silent.

Last story to share about power to speak up and defending the defenseless. I'm now working in a serviced office where there are several companies occupying the same floor. Next door to my office, there is this cheerful and vocal Chinese feng shui lady. She saw my baby bump and asked how is the baby doing. I said," Good all is well. Baby is moving about and active." She smiled and said,"Naughty boy, so naughty." Well I was caught by surprise of her response but chose to just smile politely. I thought what's wrong with baby moving in my tummy as it's what the baby supposed to be doing as it's alive. Well I regretted for not speaking up to defend my unborn baby by saying, "He's an understanding baby as each time I don't feel him move, he moves gently to let me know he's well. He's indeed God's precious gift to us." (Well traditional Chinese people have this belief that we're not to praise our children at all as the opposite will happen but this is not what God teaches us.) We are to catch them doing right and encourage our children instead of picking on their mistakes. So henceforth I decided to keep speaking words of faith and blessings over our baby and reject the words of the feng shui lady spoken over him.

God indeed has given us the power and courage to speak up in love and grace, and He has also enabled us to have self control, not to speak or do something that cause unrest or strife. If we realise and acknowledge the power at work within us we will not be intimidated neither be held captive by timidity. We are people of power, bearers of truth and grace.