God is calling millions of Americans in the so-often silent majority to join in the moral majority crusade to turn America around. The year was 1979, and with that statement, a popular televangelist would pull the religious right out of the shadows and establish it as a powerful force in American politics. Formed in response to the radical social and cultural transformations that exploded in the 1960’s and 1970’s, changes that threatened to undermine the country’s traditional moral values, this silent, moral majority grew to several million members, catapulting Ronald Reagan into the White House in 1980 and continuing to influence a country for decades.
Silent majorities are nothing new, they date back to the days of the Old Testament. Let’s consider one such scene from Israel’s history, a dark time, a time when the people of God were charting a course of idol worship through her succession of morally bankrupt kings. The decline cumulated with the reign of wicked King Ahab, who “did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.” He would take as his wife, “Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians,” and together they would serve and worship Baal, doing “more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.” It would be a dangerous venture indeed for anyone to proclaim allegiance to the one, true God of Israel while this evil pair led the nation deeper into depravity.
But in the midst of this spiritual degradation arrives the prophet Elijah on the scene, boldly defying King Ahab and warning him of an upcoming drought that would serve as a painful punishment for Israel’s iniquity. After three long years of dearth upon the land, Elijah once again boldly appears before Ahab, this time to challenge Ahab and the prophets of Baal, all 450 of them, to a ‘battle of the gods’ on Mount Carmel. In a fiery display of power and majesty, God proves to an onlooking nation that He alone is God, defeating the prophets of Baal and sending Queen Jezebel into a rampage, vowing to destroy Elijah and his God. Elijah is physically, emotionally, and spiritually spent, feeling so very much secluded, believing that he alone remains “a prophet of the LORD,” that he “only, am left.” He had no one to stand with him, or did he?
God provides His weary servant an assistant, someone to help bear the burden, and that man would be Elisha. But He also reminded His prophet of this important truth: God still had a people, “seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him,” God still had devoted, faithful servants, followers who may have been silenced, but still knew and revered the true God of Israel.
It’s easy in our wicked, confused world to feel alone, to think that there is no hope for a world spinning out of control. But God still has a people, He is still building His church, He is still at the task of preparing a bride for His precious Son. Let’s not lurk in the shadows, but boldly proclaim to a dark world that Jesus saves, that He offers redemption and renewal to anyone who kneels at His cross. I want to be silent no more, but instead, I must be a light leading those around me to the God of creation.
Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.