Silence can be both, helpful or harmful. Solomon shared his wisdom in Ecclesiastes, “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak”. James was even more directional when he shared, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath”.
We live in a culture where it’s common for us to read/send tweets, facebook, text messages, news headlines and all are offering opinions or asking questions. I was just considering the habits we pick up from our culture. We are being indoctrinated to the habitual instant response.
In our instant response we sometimes miss the opportunity to really think about what has been said, but more importantly, how we should pay attention to the fact our words matter. Solomon shared wisdom on this with, “Words can bring death or life! Talk too much, and you will eat everything you say”.
In silence we can gain the wisdom to listen carefully, so when it is time to speak, we may have the right thing needing to be said.
* References from (NKJV Ecc b 3:7, Jam 1:19, CEV Pro 18:21)