A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
I have some fondness for the sound of my own voice. Not literally—hearing myself in a recording gives me the willies—but when I’ve said (or more likely, written) something I like, I like people to pay attention. So do we all, I’d warrant. Once we get a guarantee the other guy will regard our words as gospel truth, we’ve an impulse, whether we indulge it or not, to show off our awesomeness. I’ve got it; you’ve got it; mankind in general has it. The desire to be heard is not evil; the pride and fear of disliking anything but being heard, that is evil.
The foundation of much silence and of much speech is the same. I have been silent at times because I feared speaking wrongly and being corrected. I have spoken at times because I desired to display my greatness, a desire which motivated me also to struggle against all correction, to avoid and refuse it. Both sins rise from a single root: setting myself higher than I ought.
The disorder has many roots. I may be valuing my own position and self-perception (for every man’s self-perception is built in part by perception of his companion’s perception of him) above the good of those I could speak to. I could be valuing my own intellectual pride over the truth. I could be valuing my ability to control the situation, informationally, over the reality of it. Regardless, if my reason for silence is fear of learning better, if my reason for speaking is the refusal to let another teach me, I’m sinning.
We sons of Adam and daughters of Eve love to make ourselves the authorities in the room. We like feeling like God, being the one to whom others ought to listen. Too often, we value this status above the truth; we want to be listened to, whether we earn the right or not. We want to express our opinions not in order to benefit neighbor and God but as a means of declaring ourselves in charge.
The world God gives us is a world well worth understanding. The psalmist cried, “When I look at your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place…” (Ps. 8:3), and it is a cry we should echo, looking not only to the natural world but to mankind and to God’s hand in him (Gen. 1). We are to seek understanding like silver, like hidden treasure, like we seek God Himself, for understanding is part of our relationship with God (Ps. 111:10; Prov. 2:1-5). For the fool to eschew understanding in favor of his own speech is therefore a grave sin.
Yet the desire to speak is no evil thing. Like many parts of life, like many opportunities for sin, speech is a means of great joy to man and great glory to God. Paul spoke at the Areopagus (Acts 17:19-34) and did not stay silent; Samuel spoke before Saul and was not cowed (1 Sam. 15). We are instructed to seek counsel (Prov. 27:9). The critical point is that we speak from love of God (Matt. 22:37), from love of neighbor (Mark 12:31), and with a heart open to reproof, with a readiness to receive, weigh, and apply counsel contrary and agreeable (for agreement from an evil man is a reproof of sorts).
Speech is to be a means for us men to express and seek understanding. Our opinions are not to be idols to us (Ex. 20:2). They are to be stepping-stones, tools in our hand. We are therefore to test them, iron upon iron (Prov. 27:17). Let words clash with each other; let all be submitted to Scripture (Acts 17:11). Speak boldly, in the face of the great ones of the earth, on behalf of the weak, against sin in all quarters (let it never have rest), but speak also with humility. My own greatness must be forgotten in pursuit of His truth, even when it means eating crow, when it means shutting up and listening, when it means admitting that the other guy has it right. Thus can we be better equipped to glorify and enjoy Him.
God bless.
Written by Colson Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
