Dharius Daniels - The Mute Man

Genesis chapter three, verse one says, «Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.» He said to the woman, «Did God really say you must not eat from any of the trees in the garden?» The woman said to the serpent, «We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'» «You will not certainly die,» the serpent said to the woman, «for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you’ll be like God, knowing good and evil.» Then the woman saw that the fruit on the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom. She took some and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

I want to talk from this subject today: the mute man. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not sure if you are aware, but the Bible clearly claims that we are engineered to excel. Everyone say, «excel.» In other words, we weren’t made for mediocrity; we don’t exist to be average. We weren’t born for boredom; we have been crafted by our Creator in a way that brings glory to Him and adds value to the world. One of the ways we accomplish this is through excelling. Our God is the God who excels. The psalmist in Psalms 8 calls Him «excellent.» He is extraordinary; He is unique; He is not ubiquitous. There is none like Him. He does exceedingly and abundantly above all we ask, think, or imagine. God is excellent, and this excellent God made us in His image and in His likeness. This excellent God resides on the inside of us and empowers us to excel and to reach places of possibility that are beyond the limitations of our own capacity. We are enabled and empowered to do and to experience what we could never experience on our own. We have been created; we exist to excel.

However, it is also important to note here that one cannot excel in what they don’t understand. Excelling requires understanding. To excel at sports, you must understand the sport. To excel at your work, you must understand the job. To excel in finances, you must understand your financial reality. To excel in relationships, you must understand the one you are relating to. One of the wisest men who ever lived, a sage named Solomon, corroborates my claim. He agrees with this argument. He puts pen to paper, and in Proverbs chapter 4, verse 7, Solomon says, «The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom,» and then he adds, «though it costs you all you have, get understanding.» Because you cannot excel in what you don’t understand. If I had time, I would pause for a moment and attempt to articulate how the enemy seeks to destroy and disrupt our lives by impacting our ability to acquire understanding. If he can keep you confused, he can keep you stuck. God is not the author of confusion. Are you hearing what I’m saying?

Yes, there are a number of areas that we should all constantly seek to understand, specifically those that are essential and consequential to our lives. However, in this series, we are attempting to increase our understanding of men. You may have heard of the subjects of theology, biology, anthropology, and sociology, but today I want to add another discipline to that body of study: manology. Because men need to be understood. In my years of interaction with thousands of men, I have noticed one pervasive consistency: many men feel misunderstood. A misunderstood man is an unheard man, and an unheard man is a man who doesn’t feel listened to. A man who doesn’t feel listened to is a man who will eventually go mute.

Here’s a question for us to reflect on during our time of teaching today: Are the men in your life mute? If the answer to that question is yes, then we need to ask another question: Do the men in your life feel understood? Do they feel heard? Are you listening? Do you let them talk? Do you let them finish? Do you let them tell you what they are saying, or are you telling them what they are saying? It’s not the same kind of listening I’m normally accustomed to giving. Here it is, here it is, here it is: because if a man doesn’t feel heard, he doesn’t feel listened to, and if he doesn’t feel listened to, the man goes mute; he goes silent.

What do I mean? This text in Genesis makes clear what I’m attempting to claim today: the very first man we are introduced to in Scripture, a man named Adam, was a man who became mute, and his muteness had chaotic consequences. Here, in the book of Genesis, which is the book of beginnings, we explore and understand a number of truths regarding the beginning of the world as we know it—specifically, the narrative regarding creation. We see in creation a God who is excellent taking a period of time; the Bible says it’s a period of six days. Whether that is six literal days or a metaphor for years…