Day Two

Wisdom in Silence

"O that you would be completely silent,
And that it would become your wisdom!”
Job 13:5

          Someone once said that it was better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.  That’s the gist of what Job was telling his friends.  Sometimes we need to keep quiet and listen instead of trying to prove ourselves wise in the sight of man.  We have to get the last word in.  We have to share that same old story one more time, because we are the keepers of knowledge and the expositors of experience.

          The wisest man is the one who waits for the LORD to put words in his mouth and wisdom in his head.  When we presume to know the right answer to the situation, we are, in effect, saying that we know what is best and that we don’t need to wait upon the LORD for wisdom.  Oh, we excuse our actions, by pointing out that God has already given us this wisdom and we are just explaining to others what God has already taught us.  Or we might say that we have been where that man has been before and this is what God did for me in that situation.

          But the truth of the matter is that God may not want that man to learn the exact same lesson that He taught you.  Maybe that man needs a different lesson taught to him.  Without relying constantly on God for guidance, we become the pharmacists of wisdom and the doctors of counsel.  All of our experience in the end will end up counting for nothing if we do not use it at the right time and in the right context.

• A disciple keeps silent until God opens his mouth to speak

Application:  Do you think you have the answer to everything?  Do you open your mouth to reveal your dependence upon God?