When Silence is Golden....Ssssh!
This post was originally written and published between 2015 and 2017 on my old blog but I was led to republish it as there is a key lesson to learn, which I believe is valuable for a day we live in.
There is no doubt that speaking is a key a core part of our Faith. The Bible states that life and death are in the power of our tongue (Proverbs 18:21) and we also see that the earth itself was created by the spoken word of God. This shows that life can be given simply by the words we speak and the same goes for the opposite side of things.
I am a big proponent of speaking life which I highly encourage, but I’l have also learnt that there are instances when we should learn to remain silent. This post highlights this very lesson which I learnt a few years ago from an experience where I learnt the true value of remaining silent when it is warranted.
The other day, I was in a bit of a situation where someone had a rather frank conversation with me. You could say it was a bit of a telling off delivered in a stern but loving way which I totally appreciated. As much as I tend to be a goody two shoes and don’t like being in the wrong (it is the geek in me), I could appreciate their candidness and the non-manipulative nature of their approach.
The reason for ‘talk’ was valid and in hindsight I really should have seen it coming but in my rather weak defence there was more to it that met the eye or the ear in this case. As with most things, the answers are usually in the unspoken words and the actions that had warranted the ‘talk’ were just subconscious reactions to things that had built up over time. As the message was delivered, I thought it is either I gear into receive mode and stay silent or be open and allow this to go into the ‘deep’ conversation territory. The issue with the latter is that once the wall is broken, it could led to anything and emotions usually like to make a distinguished appearance at such times. As the conversation carried on, I had a little ponder and immediately decided to stick to with 100% receive mode as it was just best in this situation. If I started talking there is no doubt it would have become deep all too quickly and I wasn’t prepared for that, plus I had a social gathering to be at later that evening.
During my personal bible study a few day after, I decided to start reading the book of Luke. As I read, the story of how the birth of John the Baptist was foretold (Luke 1), verse 20 which talks about Zacharias (John’s father) and his encounter with angel really caught my attention.
“And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time” - Luke 1:20
My question then became ‘why did the angel have to mute him?’ I had read the scripture several times but had never really given this any further thought. It then became clear to me that staying silent was essential so that he won’t use his words to abort the plan. It reminded me that our words really do have power and can carry weight in the Spirit. We, being made in the likeness of God means there are certain attributes He has given us. When God speaks things are established, created and formed so just as He speaks, when we do so, this can also happen, especially when one holds a position of authority as given by God. To put this in context, Zacharias was a priest.
This hit me like a ton of bricks and it kind of seemed a little bizarre as these were all things I knew but this story gave me a fresh perspective. As I re-read the earlier verses, I could see that Zacharias was a respected priest and was somewhat familiar with the presence of God as part of his role but yet when the angel of The Lord appeared he was afraid. The angel told Him about his son John; all he would be and almost immediately, he had those same doubtful, intriguing questions we all have when God tells us He will do something that is seemly impossible. Have you found yourself saying; “But God how would You do it?”, “It seems a so far fetched?”. “The circumstances don’t line up”. Honestly speaking, I could totally relate to Zacharias I chuckled at the amount of times I had done exactly the same thing, I was guilty, guilty, guilty!
In verse 13, we see that Zacharias and Elizabeth had been praying for a child for the angel said
“Don’t be afraid, Zacharias! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John - Luke 1:13
They clearly desired to have a child but I guess Zacharias had not expected this to come in such a manner. Again, I thought about how many times have I prayed for something and then when it comes, I am the first to either leg it (run) or scrutinise it so much so that I talk myself out of it. At this point, all I could do was ask God for mercy, for the many times I have been guilty on many accounts. Thank God that He is indeed merciful!
Sometimes in life we experience seasons where it is best we simply stay silent.
This is usually when:
Our intended words are contrary to God’s word
We don’t fully understand a matter and could potentially abort it. This goes for prophetic interpretation as well
When the Lord cautions us to be silent about certain things for the sake of wisdom
When doing the contrary will result in us being in defence mode instead of allowing God to vindicate us
In cases when we don’t understand what is going on (similar to Zacharias) instead of allowing our emotions to rule, we just need to be still, silent and listen. Learning how to get our emotions under control is key to living life in God’s perfect will as emotional decisions and reactions are never best as they don’t put things in full perspective or consider the long term goal. The best way get over this is to constantly surrender our emotions to God.
For me, I saw these scriptures in a different light; they demonstrated both God’s power in bringing His will to pass and the power of our words. There sometimes is power in our silence. So I guess my little ‘chat’ really did do more than I expected, because if I did open my mouth in that situation it would have become a very emotional conversation but my silence allowed me to listen, discern and learn.
As I have grown in my faith, I have learned that silence can actually be a virtue especially prophetically. You don’t have to say everything you see or saw especially when you don’t understand it. The more the Lord reveals, you will soon realise most of it is for the purposes of prayer as opposed to sharing. I really do believe that as God’s people, we have a great lesson to learn in discerning when to speak and when not to.
Sometimes, silence is indeed golden.