Wikipedia says: A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment of soap or other dry goods from a manufacturer to a retail store.
It has been my experience that these soapboxes come in many sizes and shapes. I guess this is because our opinions and views are as varied as the vegetation around the world. I know that the times I have gotten on a soapbox it has not been the most intelligent thing for me to do. Over the last few weeks maybe even months God has been speaking to me about things I didn’t think were things.
During one of my daily readings, that at times are not so daily, a couple passages jumped out at me. First was Proverbs 18:7, “A fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.” At this I thought, “Am I that fool?” Then we came to Proverbs 19:1, “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.” There are times where I will rant and rave about something, A political view, beliefs, or even a good movie. As I look back at those rants and those time I didn’t think and I just jumped atop that soapbox most of them I was the fool.
The main reason I know I was the fool was because I can look back and see not only was I atop that soapbox it had some of the biggest holes in it and/or, what I was ranting about was a giant arrow pointing at me and how big of a fool I was. We all have soapboxes but we all also have platforms and microphones to share God’s love to the world. We each have a unique view and story of how God got us to where we are, and he is not done with us yet.
As I struggled with the idea that I have been being a fool and ranting about things that are unimportant or using my soapbox to try to get some sort of personal gain. I think or even tell others that I am an educated intelligent man, but I realize that in my intelligence I was being an idiot. I was that fool, God brought back to me Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
I feel that God is calling me and maybe us all to get off our soapboxes, throw them in the fire, and climb onto the podium he has set up for us and step up to the microphone. We all have something to say and God has someone for you to say it to.
I know how true this can be at times. I grew up in the church and walked away some in my early to mid 20’s. I got involved in drugs and alcohol and the seedier side of Mid-evil reenactments. After my second divorce the first thing I heard from God was to return to Bible College. As I started school again I met my wife, she is a wonderful spirit filled woman. Together we found a church where we both flourished, and I started to see God’s hand moving around me.
One Friday morning at our church’s mens prayer meeting during prayer I hear (not audibly) that I need to go and pray for my aunt. I had heard from my family that a few days prior she had been diagnosed with lymphoma, there was lots of fear and anxiety around this. After hearing that I needed to go I cut my day at work short talked to my dad and aunt, then my dad and I drove nearly 200 Miles and about 3 hours up to my aunt’s home.
After a visit and dinner with my aunt and cousin we spent some time in prayer and laying on of hands. As we finish my aunt said that she felt something going through her body. A week later she sends a photo of the biopsy location on her arm. When we arrived up there it was red and irritated, looking like the evil cancer can be, but that picture only a few days later was completely healed and looked as if it had been no more then a scratch. A week or so goes by and she goes in for a follow up PET scan and the doctors could not find the cancer that had been the diagnoses vexing the family.
God didn’t send some preacher who has all these miracles under his belt. God asked this guy to go 3 hours pray for his aunt. My faith was increased just by allowing myself to listen and hear God saying go and if she had not been healed in this way I think my faith would have still increased but in this healing God has started the softening the heart of those who are in the sphere of influence of those who experienced or saw it. Just as the blind man said after being asked about Jesus healing his blindness John 9:25, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” We are only asked to share what God has done in your life.
Let us get off our own boxes and speak of God’s love.
