Prevailing calm

Can you bridle your tongue when your heart is under pressure? That’s how you show that you are wise. An understanding heart keeps you cool, calm, and collected, no matter what you’re facing. When even a fool bites his tongue he’s considered wise. So shut your mouth when you are provoked— it will make you look smart.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭17‬:‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭TPT‬‬

There is much wisdom in not speaking.  Silence can be an interesting phenomenon.  We seem to get so little of it.

The world fills the void caused by silence.  Almost always silence is broken with foolishness.  People are often very troubled with silence.  No one ever seems okay with the game of silence.  Silence is often the platform for someone to talk about what is on their mind. So they do exactly that.

We do well not to join into that type of conversation, but instead we can encourage holding our tongues.  It is one of the expressions of wisdom. 

The world encourages words to express wisdom.  The world’s ways are inconsistent with God’s ways. 

We all learn to express our opinions. Yet, as we age we wonder who actually wants to hear our opinion.  If we are not asked, most of the time, our opinion is neither heard or appreciated.  This is the case even when we think we offer the best sort of wisdom. 

To make silence even more difficult is to find ourselves under pressure.  At times of intensity, we can utter many words.

Calm can prevail in spite of harsh circumstances.  The only thing that allows such insanity is knowing the presence of God is at hand. 

God’s way is to look to Him in all parts of the day and we can do this most easily when the noise of the world is gone and silence allows our minds to turn toward God. This produces the wisdom mentioned in this verse.