Wisdom demands silence

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom. (Charles Spurgeon)

Wise words bring many benefits, and hard work brings rewards. (Proverbs 12:14)

The right use of knowledge - wouldn't that go a long, long way where it applies to the words we speak about another? Gossip has a way of dragging others down - it also has a way of taking you right along with it! The wise learn the 'advantage' of guarding well the words they share - especially when they are words that may paint another in a bad light or bring another into some knowledge of the other person's character that they really had no right to know. Wisdom is the right use of knowledge - to apply wisdom to both the words we speak and the words we listen to about others is truly a 'learned art'. The 'art' is learned at the feet of Jesus. 

We can be the undoing of another's character quicker than we know just by sharing something that were really best left unsaid. We might say it to their face, or behind their backs, but either of these can be just as damaging to another when spoken without the wisdom of God backing those words. We need God's wisdom to guard our ears from what we have no right to hear, as well as guard our mouth from speaking forth what should not be shared. If another were to share our faults for all to hear about without any restraint at all, how would that make us feel? Some of the wisest moments come when we acknowledge we have 'knowledge', but we refuse to 'spill the beans' about another.

God's plan is simple - when we know about the faults of another, pray for them, don't abuse that knowledge by spreading it around. The more we engage in 'prayerful consideration' of the knowledge we possess, the more likely we are to go about sharing it indiscriminately. The wise learn to temper their speech. God asks us to lift one another up, being a support when things aren't going as they should be in another's life. We aren't going to be much of a support if we are tearing them down by the things we share that should have been left unsaid. Just sayin!