There is a time to speak and a time to be silent. Knowing when is the key! On an average women speak 13,000 more words a day then men... not because we save all our words until our husband gets home and then we use all 20,000 in the first hour, or because when we are raising little ones we talk gibberish all day long and need to speak with an adult. It’s because God made man and women differently... and that’s a good thing!
But learning when we are to speak and when we are to remain silent is a work of the Spirit. Self control is the ninth fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 and we know why it’s last right? It’s the hardest to attain! Jesus sets a wonderful example for us in the Word about “silence”. Our Lord did a lot of speaking in His 33 years of life... He encouraged, He healed, He preached, He even rebuked! But when it came to Him being wrongfully accused we read that “He answered not a word.” (Matt. 27:14)
It’s hard for us to keep silent when we want to defend ourselves... when we have been misunderstood, misrepresented or even mistreated! But we need to learn from Jesus that in those times our words should be minimal yet powerful. Jesus only spoke seven Words from the time of His capture in the garden to His crucifixion on the cross. Those seven statements were both profound and powerful... they were few but never forgotten.
Let us learn from the Lord that silence has a purpose and can even make a huge statement. In a world that tells us to “say anything”, “speak out”, and “give them a piece of your mind” we would do good to look at the example of Jesus. He was meek and mild. He was the epitome of strength under control! Corrie Ten Boom so wonderfully said; “Look to the world and be distressed, look within and be depressed, look to Jesus and be at rest! Let Him empower you with His Spirit of meekness and self control and may your silence speak volumes!