"You Have the Right to Remain Silent."

It puzzles me, in an age where appearance is everything , why more people have not caught on to the biblical way of improving their perceived intelligence. It is found in Proverbs…

17:28 “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”

Now granted, being considered wise and deemed intelligent is not the same as being wise and intelligent, but we all have to start somewhere. It is better than opening our mouths and removing any doubt whatsoever.

There are many things that can be hidden in silence. For example, it is amazing how smart I can appear in a room full of well educated people when I let them do all the talking. The conversation is intriguing, the subject complicated, and a couple of well timed nods of agreement, or the furrowed brow of one in deep thought can give the appearance of intelligence and comprehension. It hides the fact that I’m just trying to figure why my watch stopped working, is it broken or does it need a new battery. Where do you buy batteries for a watch like this? I don’t have a clue what they are talking about, but that all gets hidden in the silence.
A couple helpful hints for hiding ignorance... from someone with a lot to hide.

1. When the meeting is over GET OUT! Get to the battery store before it closes.
   
2. “Stop blogging”! Unless it's already to late.
   

I think the flip side of this verse points to the path of true wisdom and real intelligence. It is the reason fools never find it. Silence and closed lips need to be accompanied by listening ears. James says “be swift to hear and slow to speak…” Jesus said "he that has ears to hear, let him hear..." I have found in my own experience that it is impossible to listen and talk at the same time. I need to learn how to listen, to pay attention. When my lips are moving I am not learning. The greatest need I have in my life is to listen to God ...to be still and know that I am NOT God. I need to listen to that “still small voice”. Sometimes the greatest gift we can give others is a listening ear. There is a time to speak and a time to listen. May God grant us the daily wisdom to know what time it is. If we want to be truly wise and intelligent, we need to exercise our rights...

We have the right to remain silent - let's use it.

Here are some encouraging words from James

James 1:19-25 “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”