Un-Repressed Silence

Read

Proverbs 17:27–28 (ESV) Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

What it is speaking to me

The therapeutic culture around us preaches the same thing over and over: speak your truth, express your feelings, don't bottle it up. And there is a whiff of wisdom in that. Total, long term suppression isn't healthy. But over time "don't bottle it up till you explode" is turning into "say everything, share everything" and Proverbs looks at that and calls it foolish living, not liberated living.

"Whoever restrains his words has knowledge." Not "whoever expresses his words." Solomon connects wisdom to what I hold back, not just to what I let out. To a culture built on the concept that an unspoken thought is a repressed thought, and that a repressed thought is a wound waiting to fester...this is anathema. Silence isn't necessarily repression. It might be restraint, and restraint is a fruit of the Spirit wearing a different name.

This isn't a call to become a stone-faced vault who never processes anything. It's a call to think before we speak. To take our thoughts and feelings before the Lord and let Him help us filter them before we open our mouth.

Verse 28 is sadly funny: even a fool looks wise if he'll just close his mouth for a minute: That's how low the bar is, and how far we've drifted from it.

What is it saying to you?

Have you confused "processing my emotions" with "broadcasting my emotions"?

Who taught you that every internal reaction deserves an external audience, and is that actually true?

What are we going to do about it?

The next time a strong opinion or feeling rises in you today, don't voice it right away. Sit with it for at least fifteen minutes before you decide whether it needs saying at all.