Hold it Back

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 29:11

A fool gives full vent to his spirit; but a wise man quietly holds it back.

It has been crudely tagged “diarrhea of the mouth.” It is that tendency some people have to talk endlessly, either unable or unwilling to “put a sock in it.” This proverb addresses the issue and, as the book does often, places us in one of two categories. We are either fools or wise, the determinative test being whether or not we have a filter between our thoughts and our words.

“A wise man quietly holds it back,” is the way the English Standard Version translates it. The word “quietly” is important. The sentence would make sense without it. “A wise man holds it back,” works, but the addition of “quietly,” gives us an image of this person we would miss otherwise.

This is not a person who is biting his or her tongue, saying just enough to get the other person(s) around them aroused with curiosity and begging them to tell them what they are thinking, pleading with them to reveal “what’s on their mind,” while they say, “No, I better just keep my mouth shut.” What “quietly suggests is the wise man can hold his tongue without others knowing it is being held.

This wise person is living the teaching of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. He is not “practicing his righteousness before men to be seen by them.” Only he and God know he is holding it back. Therefore, his reward is from God.

This person is not wise because they “quietly hold it back.” They “quietly hold it back” because they are wise. This is the fruit not the root of wisdom. It is a fruit of the Spirit-filled life. As Paul tells us, the fruit of the Spirit is “self-control.” When the Holy Spirit fills a person, He gives them the gift of self-control.

This fruit of a controlled tongue isn’t produced just because we recognize we have a problem. Read the book of James and you will be disabused of the notion that the tongue can be controlled by willpower alone. We need help. God gives it to us. Submit yourself to the Holy Spirit’s rule over your life – including your tongue. Let Him produce His fruit in you. He will make you wise and give you the grace to “quietly hold it back.”