PS 40:3, 10 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

When God’s people praise Him, when they proclaim His manifold goodness, people take notice, and they are drawn to acknowledge God themselves. I am impressed that throughout the Bible, people were expected to talk about God, to share their faith with one another and with those to whom it was news. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is a strong word about the centrality of God’s Word, and by extension our faith, in our lives. It starts with the Shema, the prime declaration of any devout Jew: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one.” Then it goes on to give what Jesus said was the greatest commandment, which is to love God with all that we are, and then it talks about how that should influence our lives, causing us to think and talk all the time about what God has said to us. We get worked up about evangelism and our failures in relation to it, when if we would live the way God had Moses tell the Israelites to do, people would continually be drawn to the God we worship. David knew that, and he practiced it. By his creating praise songs and singing them, many came to trust God. That’s pretty effective evangelism! He was not one to hide what God had done for him. We tend to worry someone will think we are bragging if we talk about how good God has been to us, but that won’t be a problem if we are bragging on God. If our focus is on “God did this for me,” then there’s no benefit, to ourselves or anyone else. However, if we properly let people know that “God did this for me,” then people are drawn to seek Him for themselves.

There are various cultural barriers to this in Japan. The Japanese are positively paranoid about bragging on a personal level, and on top of that, are reticent to share personal details with others. That can led to intense loneliness and isolation, and is a factor in the high number of suicides. The choice to be open and vulnerable isn’t easy in any culture, but it is perhaps doubly difficult in Japan. Japanese sometimes envy foreigners for their openness, but they find it difficult to emulate. Cathy has had some remarkable results in small English Conversation classes for ladies by using English as a tool to teach them to talk about themselves and to listen to each other. There have been some very strong friendships forged among her students! As a pastor, I need to translate that to opening up to talk about faith. We have numbers of people who love the Lord and have experienced His grace and blessings, but they don’t know how to talk about it. I need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to help them open their eyes to see the possibilities and believe that God can use them in that way.

Father, this is a totally unexpected message You’ve given me for Sunday! Keep me from preaching it at people. Rather, help me share Your heart and my heart, so that people may grasp the vision of how You want to use them to draw many into Your kingdom, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!