Open Your Mouth

Proverbs 31 is famous for verses 10-31, in which a mother tells her son what to look for in an excellent wife. But just before she tells him what kind of wife he ought to find as a king, she gives him other pieces of wisdom for leadership as a king: don’t be enslaved to sexual sin, and don’t be enslaved to drunkenness (Prov. 31:1-7). Then she tells her son to speak up:

Open your mouth for the mute, For the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9 (NASB95)

As a king, Lemuel was called by God to rule with justice and righteousness and to defend those who cannot defend themselves. While it’s tempting to start making lists of all the current rulers we can think of who are not living to this standard, I want to challenge us to look inward.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6

Jesus rescued us when we were helpless. We could do nothing to earn our salvation. We owed a tremendous debt when we had zero dollars in the bank account, and Christ not only paid our debt, but He also gifted us with His righteousness.

We are called to be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1). God is a defender, protector, refuge, and warrior on behalf of His children, and He especially defends the orphans, widows, and helpless. If we are called to imitate God’s character and heart for others, then who should we be opening our mouths for? What should we be defending?

1: Open your mouth for the fatherless.

A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land. Psalm 68:5-6

The Lord is King forever and ever; Nations have perished from His land. O Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror. Psalm 10:16-18

Think about this for a second: before Christ, we were strangers, enemies of God, and separated from God. But through Christ we have been adopted into the family of God (Eph. 1:5). We went from having nothing, no one, and no hope for the future to having a name given to us, an inheritance offered to us, and a hope promised to us of eternal life with our Heavenly Father. Our spiritual adoption is of major importance to God.

Similarly, God’s heart of compassion is strong toward those who on earth who are fatherless. Whether someone has parents who are uninvolved or abusive, or someone has parents who have passed on, God’s love for them is tremendous, and He says He will be a Father to them. Praise God!

But as part of the body of Christ, we are called to be God’s hands and feet on earth and to care for orphans (James 1:27). If God has a heart for the fatherless, so should we.

There are over 100,000 children awaiting adoption in the U.S.¹ Worldwide, there are over 153 million orphans.²

What does it look like to open our mouths for the fatherless? It may not be the same for every person, but here’s some ideas:

Mentor a teen whose parents are uninvolved
Sponsor an orphan in another country
Volunteer to help foster children in your community
Advocate for foster care reform
Become a foster parent
Adopt a child

2: Open your mouth for the unborn.

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. Psalm 139:13-16

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 18:10

We live in a culture of death. Abortion is rampant and children are undervalued and portrayed as drains on society. Life begins at fertilization, so any abortion at any gestational age is murder. There are no excuses for murder before God.

But when we think about opening our mouths for the helpless, the most helpless people are the unborn and children. They cannot speak for themselves and can easily be ignored, pushed aside, or worse.

In 2021, the CDC reported 625,978 abortions in 46 of the United States (4 states do not provide data on abortions in their states).³ That’s the number of abortions in one year alone. Our little ones are being despised, and the Lord will hold accountable all who advocate for and participate in their murders.

Before I continue into ways we can stand for the unborn, I want to take a moment to recognize that someone reading today may have had an abortion. While abortion is murder and a serious sin in the eyes of God, it is not an unforgiveable sin. Remember, the Apostle Paul was a murderer before the Lord radically changed his life. The Lord can change your life too! Repent of your sin before the Lord, ask Him to wash you clean, and know that He will forgive you and help you to walk in newness of life (1 Jn. 1:9).

Here’s some ways we can open our mouths for the unborn:

Donate to your local pregnancy resource centers
Pray and share the gospel in front of an abortion clinic
Advocate for equal rights for the unborn
Share information about the reality of abortion and God’s forgiveness on social media

3: Open your mouth for the elderly.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27

A gray head is a crown of glory; It is found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31

The culture of death affects not only the unborn but also the elderly. The elderly are often viewed as unable to contribute to society, when in fact Scripture teaches that the elderly are very valuable. They have much wisdom to pass on to younger generations, but unfortunately younger generations have been taught not to seek such wisdom and older generations have been taught to not pursue the younger ones. How sad that even the church perpetuates this separation. It ought not to be this way.

How can we open our mouths for the elderly?

Start a ministry for widows in your local church
Seek out a friendship with an older adult and listen to his or her wisdom
Offer to help an older adult with practical needs (lawn care, grocery runs, etc.)
Speak out against euthanasia

4: Open your mouth for the disabled.

People with disabilities also have a special place in God’s heart. Jesus showed great compassion toward those who had physical disabilities. In John 9, Jesus says about a man born blind that he was born blind so that God’s power might be displayed in him. While for some people that power was displayed through healing, for some it was not and has not been that way. But God promises to bring about His glory through weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). The Scripture also speaks about God’s compassion toward those who do not know the difference between their right and left hands (Jonah 4:11). All people, regardless of their individual physical or mental strengths and weaknesses, are made in the image of God. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made, and yet we all live in a sin-cursed world and experience the effects of that curse in different ways. That does not change our value and dignity as image-bearers of God. It is vital, in this culture of death, and we open our mouths for the sake of those with disabilities, especially in advocating for continued equal protection for all and in personally treating everyone with dignity.

5: Open your mouth for justice in our laws.

God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers. How long will you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Selah. Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. Psalm 82:1-4

We must stand for justice in our laws. Just as we are not to show partiality between the small and the great (Ja. 2:1-13), lawmakers are especially held accountable before God to judge fairly. There are no exceptions or special treatments in God’s law for socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or any other factor. As God is just, so also we must be just, and we must fight for just laws in our nation and states.

How do we open our mouths for justice in the land?

Vote in accordance with Biblical values rather voting along particular party lines or what laws or candidates seem “nice”
Pray for justice in the land and for our political leaders
Speak out for Biblical justice on social media
Donate to Christian organizations that are working in the political arena

6: Open your mouth for the church to be the church.

I believe that a large part of the reason that our nation is where it is happened because the church stepped back from the engagement we are supposed to be having in the culture.

Scripture is clear that there are three realms of government: the family, the church, and the state. There are different roles for each realm:

The family governs the raising of children to fear and honor the Lord (Eph. 5-6)
The church promotes morality in the culture and is called to care for the needy (Ja. 1)
The state is to punish evildoers and reward those who do good (1 Pet. 2:14)

For far too long, the church has allowed the state to do what the church was called to do, leading to moral decline in the nations. Scripture speaks harshly about those who do not promote justice and allow evil to run rampant (Jer. 5:28, Deut. 27:19). It is time that we repent of our slothfulness in the church and return to the calling we have in Christ, to be the salt, or preserving agent, of the earth.

It is not too late for the church to repent and return to the Lord. And Isaiah 1:16-18 gives a good blueprint of how we ought to do that:

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.” Isaiah 1:16-18

There is forgiveness with the Lord. May we, individually and collectively as the body of Christ, repent of our sins and return to the Lord, to walk in His ways and promote is righteousness in the earth. May His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

With love,

Kelsey