Keep Silent
Proverbs 17:26-28
For Our Own Good
Do you trust that God designed our circumstances for our own good? Do you trust God situates us where we can testify of our adventure with him? Whether we appreciate it or not, we should testify about his grace.
God let Esther to be orphan and queen. After she became queen, a wicked Haman schemed to annihilate all Jewish people in the kingdom. So, who can intercede before the king on behalf of the Jewish people? Esther the queen! Mordecai, the cousin of Esther challenged her to speak to the king for intervention. Let’s reflect what he said in Esther 4:14, 14For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?
Hostility and hatred against Jewish people is public knowledge. And Christians became targets of aggressive groups also. What can we do? As concerned citizens, we pray that the Lord grants wisdom to our government officials to implement ideas beneficial to us and avoid wrongful schemes.
1. Wrong
26If imposing a fine on the innocent is not good, surely to flog honest officials is not right.
It is wrong to punish an innocent and honest official. Yet people in authority prioritize anyone who support them. If you don’t belong to their support group, you could be ostracized as second class citizens. Political parties are groups or cliques that promote their political interests.
We attend church to worship God. But, the church is not exempted from political virus. Cliques and groups can cause factions in the church. Factions may divide the church. How can we avoid factions in the church? It warned in Galatians 5:19-21, 19The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Faction is a relative to discord, immorality and idolatry. If we inherit the kingdom of God, we pray that we may avoid these acts of the flesh. We still have tendencies to commit sin and neglect a warning from God.
Until we’re glorified, we should prayerfully read God’s word and avoid sin.
2. Word
27The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.
Words from famous personalities are celebrated in social media. But wise saying are not meant only for memorization. It much better to apply profound quotations personally than just publishing them in social media. And wise Christians listen to the word of God and explore its relevance.
Someone said, “The more words you speak, the more mistake you make!” Another one interpreted, “Less words, less mistake. No word, no mistake.” They don’t want to speak to avoid mistake. To avoid mistake is not smart at all. Anyone who never had mistaken, never learned anything.
Happy Wife
A husband wanted his wife to be happy always. So, he avoided blunt criticism of what his wife cooks. Whenever his wife serves food and asks, “Is it delicious?” his automatic answer is, “Yes! Very delicious!” He pretends to enjoy the food. One day, they invited a pastor for dinner. The wife cooked her signature dish and asked, “Pastor, is the food delicious?” “It’s a little bit salty,” the pastor replied. The pastor was never invited for dinner again.
Warning: If you are not ready to hear the truth about your cooking, don’t ask pastors for comment. If you expect to be praised for what you do, be ready and you will learn better, if you can accept truthful comments. Anything we do, imagine as if God is our customer. Colossians 3:17 says,
17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
So when we serve food, imagine that Christ tastes the food we serve. Christ is the truth. He tells the truth, if the food is salty or not. When driving, imagine Christ is riding with us, and we follow the rules. Studying, working, shopping, fishing or relaxing, Christ is always with us to help us do what is right. To avoid foolishness and decide wisely, we follow Christ’s teaching.
Spend time with God’s word, and you won’t remain simple but wise.
3. Wise
28Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.
When is it wise to be silent? Is it wise to be silent all the times? The previous passage explains it, “The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.”
Even-tempered is also translated as calm spirit or self-control. Calm and restraint imply being in a group not alone. One can be silent alone. And to be talkative when isolated is another issue. So fools may pretend to be wise if they just listen silently, and not try to pretend they know something.
The Lord mandated us to witness for him. But we also need to know the right time to speak. We can learn when to speak and when to be silent from Christ in Matthew 26:62-64, 62Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” 63But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” 64“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Why did Jesus not answer when they were accusing him? He knew that they won’t listen to his explanation. He knew that they were looking for a reason to kill him. But when they asked him if he is the Messiah, the son of God, why did Christ affirm it and informed them also about his return?
How should we explain what Jesus Christ declared in John 12:48?
48There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.
They ignore the word of God because they don’t believe it. They read and interpret the Scripture according to their convenience and preferences. No belief cannot change what God had decreed. He punishes anyone who disregards him but blesses anyone who obeys him. And Christ wants us to know when he declared in Matthew 5:18, 18For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
If our faith in Christ is active, we can seriously pay attention to his word. Certainly, it is smart to obey God. We also trust that God designed his words as impartial way to bless us when we obey him. Why?
God blesses for us to have practical proof of his grace. He blesses us with practical things as reminder of our mandate not to keep silent but to testify of our adventure with Christ, especially when we obey him. Amen?
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