Do you know that our Father Elohim is attributing great importance to silence?
We must understand why our Father loves silence and when we must shut up!
Silence is among others the ACTION, which consists in preventing oneself from speaking, this means a great self-control.
First of all, the Christian must remain silent if he wants to listen to and receive instructions from the Lord just as the pupil must listen to his teacher. Without silence, the Christian cannot hear the instructions of his Lord, instructions revealed to him in the Holy Scriptures.
One of the areas in which the Christian puts Elohim’s instructions into practice is his way of speaking, of expressing himself. But what is the relationship between that and silence? You will understand right away:
Our way of speaking is characterized by the following elements:
• What we say must BE TRUE
• The words chosen to express ourselves must BE PRECISE
• The way we express ourselves must render our IDEAS CLEAR
• Our tone must be SOFT but CONVINCING and SPREADING AUTHORITY
You can now realize that when you want to speak, you must first prepare yourself and this preparation will take a long time of silence from your part. This silence should keep you busy much more time than the time needed to speak!
If this time of silence is used efficiently, then your words will be like those of which the proverb speaks:
" A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”
(Proverbs 25:11)
Every detail we say must be carefully examined in the light of the knowledge that our Father is giving us.
Now, if we examine what is happening in the world around us, you will not hear the “sound of silence”, quite the opposite, silence is very rare and people often are trying to speak as much as possible. The result is usually a lot of confusion and surprisingly the cause of this often destructive confusion is very small! James tells us about it in his epistle, chapter 3, verses 1 to 10:
" 1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
5 EVEN SO THE TONGUE IS A LITTLE MEMBER
AND BOASTS GREAT THINGS.
See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Elohim and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of Elohim. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. "
Only few words might be at the origin of all these evils! The killing of Abel was caused by Cain's talk:
" Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”
(Genesis 4: 8)
Cain could not hold his tongue and he lost control on himself to the point of killing his only brother at the time. Cain's words were in vain and that is why our Father did not even record them in His Word.
Let us also note that our silence is particularly important in the grave circumstances of our life, especially when our fate is in the powerful hands of our Father or His Son. This was the case for the Hebrews at the time of the crossing of the Sea of Reeds (the Red Sea) under the threat of the Egyptian army led by Pharaoh. At that moment, Moses asked the people to
KEEP SILENT !
Christ too, our supreme example, stood silently in front of those who were angry at the life of Yeshuah and who humiliated him.
Finally, let us come to us, as we are approaching the end times, we are expected to keep silent also if we want to be wise as Amos is encouraging us to be, in chapter 5 of his prophecy, verse 13:
" Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, for it is an evil time. "
It means that we will no longer speak about ourselves, but we should often wait for what the Holy Spirit of our Father will inspire us to say:
" 14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist." (Luke 21: 14-15)