Are You Willing To Shout

Are We Willing To Shout?

NLF 7/29/2001 Joshua 6:8-20 Luke 17:11-19 Text Luke 18:35-43

Shouting is a natural thing we do to either get someone’s attention or to express our approval and excitement. We shout when we want somebody to take action, such as when they need to make a change. Watch Out! Look Out! We shout when our team scores. Yes! We shout when we hear at a wedding “I now present to you Mr and Mrs Jones.” No one tells us to do this, it just comes from within. Sometimes we want to shout so bad, it is just too hard to keep it in, like at a graduation when our child’s name is called to go across the stage to pick up his or her diploma, and the people have asked us to hold all applause to the end.

One of the most important victories ever won in the bilbe involved people shouting. Joshua was leading the people of God to attack the mighty city of Jericho. Jericho had massive stone walls all the way around the city which no army had been able to get over. God told Joshua, “look tell the priest, the army and the people to march around the city for seven days. The priests are to play the trumpets as you march, but no one is to say anything.” For six days they marched around the city once in silence.

On the seventh day they got up early in the morning and marched around the city 7 times. On the seventh march, Joshua gave the signal for the people to shout. As they shouted, the massive walls of the city fell down into the ground as though whatever was holding them up simply went deeper into the earth.

The massive walls that the people were afraid of were brought down by the people’s obedience to go up to Jericho and to shout when God said to shout. God placed some supernatural power in the shout. One thing about shouting, is that there are all kinds of rules in our culture which says when it is okay to shout and when it is not. We can get to the point of thinking, that we are more dignified when we do not shout. Of course we make exceptions at football and basketball games.

The Psalms are filled with the commands for us to shout to the Lord. Somewhere we picked up the idea that getting to excited about God was not quite cool or the thing to do. We give God a very low profile thinking we are more spiritual in our approach. Contrast the way we sing for the Lord with the way we sing for ourselves or for the world. People who recognize a true need for the Lord in their lives will always be willing to shout to the Lord.

In our New Testament reading of the 10 people who had the awful disease of leprosy, they did not mind shouting at all to get Jesus’ attention. They, yelled and they screamed, “Jesus,Master, have pity on us.” Now had they been dignified and waited for Jesus to get closer so they could speak quietly to Him, they never would have received their healing. They did not mind others knowing they wanted a touch from the Master’s hands.

You may be here with a problem today that you cannot handle on your own. Today may be the day in which you simply need to let go and shout to the Lord until you get God’s attention. Let’s go back into the first century and meet a man who had suffered a bitter defeat in the game of life. When he was born, he was as normal and healthy as any other kid of his time. But something happened. We’re not quite sure if it was an illness or an accident, but before he was able to learn a trade to take care of himself it happened.

He did not know that day was going to be different from all the other days he had had in life but it was. For the first time in his life, he could no longer see. He was blind in both eyes. The only images he could see, were those stored in his memory. This was not fair by any stretch of the imagination. Yet unexpected setbacks are going to find their way into all of our lives. Just an ordinary day turns into a major disaster.

He did not have many options available to him at the time in terms of employment. There were no family members or friends who had the means to take care of him. As a result he was relegated to the life of a beggar. He would go out and sit by the roadside with his little cup or basket, hoping for a donation from those passing by. It was not a life he had chosen, but simply one that dropped into his lap. When setbacks come, let’s look around us and see, what do we have left to keep moving forward in life. God has given all of us something to keep our heads above water in the midst of our trials.