A Voice That Would Not Be Silenced

In 1939, contralto Marian Anderson was denied the stage at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., because of the color of her skin. The Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let one of the greatest voices of the twentieth century sing in their auditorium.

Most people would have retreated. Most people would have swallowed the humiliation quietly and moved on to the next city, the next venue, the next safe choice. But Anderson did not retreat.

On Easter Sunday of that year, she stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and sang before seventy-five thousand people gathered on the National Mall. She opened with My Country, 'Tis of Thee, and her voice carried across that crowd like a sermon no pulpit could contain. She did not sing in anger. She did not sing to protest. She sang because the gift the Almighty had placed in her was not something any locked door could silence.

Joshua heard similar words at the edge of the Promised Land: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Courage is not the absence of locked doors. Courage is singing on the steps when the hall is closed to you. It is trusting that the God who gave you a voice will also give you a place to use it — even if it looks nothing like the stage you originally imagined.