Silence is Not Always Golden

 

You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

  Habakkuk 1:13

 

The last couple of weeks as I have studied and taught 2 Samuel I have been impressed by the importance of not allowing sin to simmer.  In 2 Samuel 11, when David should have gone off to war but didn’t, he was tempted to lust after and then take the beautiful Bathsheba to sleep with.  She became pregnant from that encounter and ultimately David had her husband positioned in battle so that he would die and not find out about the pregnancy.  If he had only done the responsible thing and gone to war with his soldiers rather than staying home this could have been avoided.  Even when he inquired of the beautiful woman one of his servants warned David that Bathsheba was someone else’s wife.  He ignored the statement.  

The trouble doesn’t end there.  God judges David because he took Bathsheba, committed adultery, and then killed her husband.  The consequences would come within his own family – and they did come!  

One of King David’s sons, Amnon, raped one of his daughters, Tamar– they were half sister and brother.  David was furious about it.  But that was all, just mad.  He never confronted or punished his son.  He also never exonerated his daughter.  She lived a lonely life as she was sheltered by an older brother.   

The older brother was so enraged by the crime and, seeing that his father did nothing, he took it upon himself to take vengeance.  Clearly, this was sin, too.  “Vengeance is mine says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)  David had the position of father and of magistrate in this case.  It was his responsibility to seek justice.  He should have had his rapist son punished for the crime. (Leviticus 18:11, 28) 

I kept seeing through this study that we cannot let sin go, our own or those we are responsible for.  When David did it affected his whole family.  There was misery for many for years.  If we would only live according to God’s Word so much pain and heartache would be spared.  

Where I live Penn State University is considered just beneath heaven.  I see bumper stickers, t-shirts, and football jerseys with their Nittany Lion on them all the time.  Interestingly, one of the bumper stickers proposes that God must be a Penn State fan because the sky is blue and white – the Penn State colors.  (I often wonder if bumper stickers like that are taking the Lord’s name in vain.)  I am positive that God does not approve of what has been happening there.  

What has been happening to innocent boys by one of their coaches is an abomination.  Leviticus 18:11 says, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”  It seems to me this was only the tip of the iceberg for Mr. Sandusky.  The accusations are that he was abusing children, young boys who trusted him – as did their parents.  There is another verse that speaks of God’s punishment for not following this command.  It is Leviticus 18:29, “For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people.”  

The perpetrator in this case and several of his silent accomplices – have been “separated from their people”.  Their people are those at Penn State and I am afraid that football was their god.  I can’t claim to know the motives behind their silence.  My understanding is that they did not want to jeopardize the football program for the sake of a few young men’s safety and mental health.    

Our God is a God of compassion.  Isaiah 49:13b says, “For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.”  He will have compassion on the victims in this case.  He will also hear the repentance of those who were the afflicters.  But, repentance or not, there will be consequences.  Sin has a price.  Many people have been hurt and betrayed by those they thought were men of compassion, kindness, and generosity.   

The warning is that each one of us is capable.  Sin is not absent in what the world considers lesser crimes but those we love may be just as hurt if we do not take the first warning and turn from the temptation to sin.  God is grieved by sin, people are hurt by it, and we are left with the shame.  It happened that way with King David and it is happening to several at Penn State who failed to do the right thing to protect innocent boys from harm.   

Is there some sin that you and I know about that we are trying to sweep under the rug?  Have we seen or do we do know of wrongs being committed that need to be stopped?  What excuses are used to ignore it?  Do we think that we are the only ones that will be hurt?  Are we unwilling to protect others to save our reputation or income stream?  I don’t know what the excuses were at Penn State.  What I do know is that many people are hurt, directly or indirectly.  If someone had spoken and insisted on right it wouldn’t have had to be so many.   

Silence is not always golden.  It certainly wasn’t for the blue and white.