Silence has its place vs Silence can be a sin

Silence can become a practice of humility. Life seems to require our performance but God doesn’t need us to do anything. He can make the rocks cry out in praise to Him if we don’t. We all should hope that God never has to do that because we failed to praise Him. Being silent does have its place. We sometimes should learn to listen and be slow to speak, the Bible tells us this, James 1:19-20. Our words can build up or tear down which is why we must learn to use discernment and wisdom. We need to seek God’s guidance through prayer. We must learn when to speak and how to speak. Being quiet with our thoughts gives God the opportunity to restore our mind, body and spirit. Silent prayer is important in our walk with God. Spending time with God in silence is an important tool to help us grow in our relationship with God. We see in scripture that God has met with his people during silent moments 1 Kings 19:12; 1 Samuel 3:3-4. He encourages us to practice silence in Psalms 62:1; Ecclesiastes 3:7. Jesus even retreated to find silence himself in Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16. 

Christians go on retreats to spend quiet alone time with God for a time of renewal. God is silent with us at times, slow to respond to our prayers. God’s own silence when we ask for answers can be a test of our faith and obedience to help us grow as a Christian. Maybe we are not ready for the answer, maybe we need more refining before we will be ready to obey or to follow through with the answer He gives us. He answers in His time because that will always be the right time. Silence by us can be powerful when sitting with someone that is hurting, letting them know we love them and are there for them. We can simply be praying for them in silence. Silence is best in times of anger, it gives us time to reflect and respond correctly. When angry we most often don’t respond in the spirit. James 1:19; 1 Peter 3:10. Holding our tongue may bring us blessings and keep us from sinning Proverbs 10:19; Proverbs 11:12 and Proverbs 17:28. We need to use self control which is a fruit of the spirit. Galatians 5:22. 

However there are times that we sin by not speaking up. So how do we know when to speak up and how? As for when, just to list a few, when we remain silent about certain topics such as racism, gender identity, abortion, sinful acts by others, when God’s name is used disrespectfully, especially when the door is opened for us to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with someone that does not know Jesus but we choose to walk away and stay silent. Leviticus 5:1 tells us that if we sin because we do not speak up to a public charge to testify of things we have seen and learned that we will be held responsible. Have we all not been personally convicted by the Holy Spirit to speak up about certain things and at times to share something that was originally intended for our eyes only, for our own notes. Then God placed it on our heart to share. We never know who may need to read it, that God may speak to someone through what God told us to share.

If something is a sin and we are silent about it then we are guilty of not speaking out. We all have backed down, walked away and chose silence when we should have stood up for God and for what is true and good according to His word. We should regret our silence at those times and realize that there are times when being silent is a betrayal of God. When we begin to be silent about the things that matter we are going down a slippery slope. It is not judging someone when we share what God who is the ultimate judge has said on a matter. How we present it can be judgmental which is why this is addressed below. When society begins to squash the rights of us to speak out or attempts to propose guilt upon us for speaking out then we should speak up. In order for the evil one, the devil to succeed in his tasks to destroy, it takes only for the people to remain silent and we have been far more silent than we should have. We definitely can see in the world today the repercussions of the silence by Christians. Yes we are to blame in some ways for the world we live in. Have we truly done all we should have to this point? I think we agree that we didn’t in part through laziness, through being deceived and in some cases because we turned a blind eye due to being afraid of the perception of others and the rejection and persecution we may have faced ourselves. 

God wants us to speak up but in love and under the influence of The Holy Spirit. Being careful to not allow our sinful flesh to decide our words for us and push them forth out of our mouth at the wrong time, in the wrong tone, bringing the wrong reaction. Truth has been spoken by demons but that wasn’t done to help the kingdom of God. God wants us to speak according to His word in His way and in His timing. Following God’s way will bring fruit. Speaking out is a show of love and that we care.