Prevailing Voices

Luke 23:23
“And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.”

Pilate found himself in a precarious situation. There were voices which cried for him to crucify Jesus, and there was the voice of his conscience which told him that Jesus was not guilty or worthy to die; however, to his own detriment Pilate ended up listening to the wrong voices. Had Pilate listened to the right voice, he would not have gone down in history as the one who condemned the Saviour to death.

You will always have voices screaming and telling you to do things in life. The more complex life becomes, the harder it becomes to discern to which voice you should listen. We can often find ourselves confused because of all the voices that are talking to us in life. How do we discern to which voice we should listen? I believe the verse above helps to silence the volume to help you discern which voice is the right voice to follow.

First, the loudest voice doesn’t always make it the right voice. These people were loud and were calling for the death of the Innocent One, but just because they were loud didn’t make them right. Sometimes the loudest voices are loud so that they can confuse you. You will often find that their whole purpose of getting loud is to persuade you through intimidation. Just because they are loud doesn’t make them right.

Second, the instant voices don’t always make them the right voice. These voices were the voices of the moment. Just because the present situation cries loudly to do something doesn’t make it right. Situation ethics is often the instant voices, but those voice often lead to bad decisions. You can’t allow the instant voices that seem to be right because of the situation to dictate what you are going to do.

Third, the authoritative voices don’t always make them the right choice. The chief priests were the authorities, but they were still wrong. There will be times when authorities are wrong, and you are going to have to make a decision between right and wrong. When authoritative voices disagree with the Divine voice, you better ignore the authoritative voices and listen to God. Just because they are authorities doesn’t make them more right than God.

So, how do we discern the right voice? The right voice will sometimes be the voice that is the most silent. It was the “still small voice” that told Elijah the words of truth. It wasn’t the fire or the earthquake where Elijah found the truth, but it was the “still small voice” where he found the truth. You will find that most of the time it is the “still small voice” of your conscience that is telling the truth. You are going to have to ignore the prevailing, loud voices so that you can hear the “still small voice.”

Christian, the right voice will always be the voice that agrees with right and wrong. The right voice will always be the voice which concurs with the Scriptures. You will always know which voice you should listen to by whether it tells you to do what the Scriptures command or not. You must ignore any voices that would cause you to disobey God’s Word, for those voices will always lead to heartache and regret.

Author: Allen Domelle