The Daily Word

 

The book of Ecclesiastes is not a book that we often hear preached on, but it ranks with the book of Proverbs as a source of practical godly living in the Old Testament. Its nearest equivalent in the New Testament would be the book of James. But James has the advantage of having witnessed the advent of Jesus our Saviour and also the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit within each believer. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to live for God, which wasn’t always available in the Old Testament where the Holy Spirit in general only came upon those of His people whom God had chosen to fulfil a special task for Him.

But like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes puts a high value on wisdom and draws, for life itself, lessons in godliness and living for God. Early in Ecclesiastes, in Chapter 3 we have ‘the Preacher’s view of the aptness of certain events in life and in Ecclesiastes 3 v 7 we have a teaching which we often fail to follow, “There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak”. 

When we look back over any period of our lives, we can see so many times when these 2 actions get transposed. We speak, when we should keep quiet, and we keep silent when we ought to speak. It is interesting that the writer of Ecclesiastes, probably king Solomon, chooses to recommend silence firstly, because when we speak out of turn, sometimes without consideration or thought about the effect it might have on others, those words cannot be recalled. The damage is done and sometimes can never be repaired. That could be described as a sin of commission and make no mistake it is a sin in God’s sight.

On the other hand, not to speak when we ought to, is a sin of omission. To stand up for our faith or even God Himself and to fail to do so, means we have lost a opportunity to witness to someone and that opportunity may never arise again. Whilst every person makes the choice individually by the prompting of the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus as Saviour or conversely to reject Jesus, despite the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we cannot help but look back on that missed opportunity with regret. Only by allowing the Holy Spirit to control our conversation can we make the right decision, to keep silent or to speak.

Article written by Brian Preston, Elder @SFGH Church