For the last couple of days we have been studying about self control when conversing with others, quarrels that arise among us and yesterday we looked at how God deals with pride and his promise to the broken hearted.
Today we are going to look at slander; what is slander? Slander is speaking about someone from his back. It is exposing the weaknesses and the faults of your brother/sister or a friend to another person. Someone may say, because everyone has weaknesses, then slander can be positive but the truth is, whether what you say behind your brother is true or false, that is slander and it is sin before the Lord.
A good example in the Old Testament is Exodus 12:1-16 when Miriam and Aaron spoke against their brother Moses. His weakness of marrying a Cushite woman and they discussed among each other, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” Hasn’t he also spoken through us? And the Lord heard them and was angry with the two and struck Miriam with leprosy. Aaron pleaded with Moses to intercede for her and when he did, the Lord commanded that Miriam be confined outside the camp for seven days and she will be well.
He who speaks against or judges another speaks against the law and judges it. “When you judge the law you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it”. v 11b. We judge the law (God’s word) by disobeying what it says we should do. Judging the law can also mean making ourselves greater than the law. When we judge others we are not only taking the law in our hands but also assuming the position of the judge. It is very easy to interpret scripture in away that fits the circumstance that we are in, in order to blame others or to hold them accountable for our own responsibilities.
Who then should we petition when wronged? James tells us that, “there is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you, who are you to judge”. God is our judge and we must petition or our concerns before Him because He is just and merciful. We must approach His throne of grace with confidence so that we may find mercy to help us in our time of need and not to take his place to judge others. It’s a greater sin when someone attempts to be in the place of God who is the Judge. He also says, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath for it is written: ‘it is mine to avenge, I will repay”. Rom 12:19.
He is sovereign and he says in His word that He shares His glory with no other. We are His creation and we must revere Him and acknowledge that He is all in all and that we cannot do without Him. We should not therefore, dare to judge our brothers because God knows them better than we do and He does whatever He pleases. He saved Paul when he was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Church. He would have preferred to do away with Paul by destroying him but instead he held him captive to be a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the good news. Paul’s passion was to judge but God revealed Himself to him as the true judge and that marked a turning point in Paul’s life.
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