WHEN TO KEEP QUIET   TEXT PROVERBS 10 : 18-21   18 He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool. 19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. 20 The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. 21 The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.   There are times, that as christians God will say to us "keep your mouth shut," these are times when someone who is running us down, God will deal with in his way. If we feel that opening our mouth will cause more strife and allow sin to take hold,  then we need to shutup .  In fact some verses of scripture tells us to never miss a chance to keep our mouth shut.  In Proverbs 11 :2 it says  He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. In other words in certain situations we are wise when we keep quiet and let God deal with the situation.  We will always talk to God about our situations if we are wise and use that wisdom, but if we do not have wisdom then we need to do as it says in James  3 : 13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.  We must use wisdom in every aspect of our conversations and every part of our lives, if we are lacking in wisdom then we need to do as it says in James 1 : 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  This means if we need wisdom plain and simple open your mouth and ask God for it.  When we are representing God then we need to learn to bridle our tongue as it says in James 1 :26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. In other words if cannot bridle our tongue and keep things in a godly manner our testamony and our witness for God is in vain.  We must learn that it is not nessercary to comment on everything we hear said or to have the last word.  God is the final word on any given situation and that is all that matters, if someone insults us or runs us down, then God will deal with it in his time and his way, look at the Isrealites they where attacked three different  times from the time they left Eygpt until they got to the promised land by the same group of people, so when Saul was annointed king of Isreal God told him to go and destroy these people from the oldest person to the baby in arms and all the animals, leave nothing.  We can see by this that sooner or later, if we keep quiet when God tells us to that we will be avenged and the ones that did us wrong will have to answer for it.   May God Bless you   If you have a prayer need please feel free to e mail me at one of these two pastor2pdc@netscape.net firstluvmin@yahoo.com   or by US Mail 155 Crystal Springs Lane Canton, Ga.  30115                         .  .