Silence and Spiritual Walk: The Silence of Self-Control

In Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning, Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung described a spiritual exercise she did with her students on the vice of “vainglory,” defined as “the disordered desire for attention and approval.” The exercise: No talking about yourself for one week. This proved more difficult than anticipated. “[W]e quickly got a robust experiential taste of how deeply rooted a vice can be, and how blissfully unaware we were that we even had it.”

Silence requires self-control. The army of Assyria besieged Jerusalem in the days of King Hezekiah. The field commander also engaged in psychological warfare, speaking Hebrew and hoping to prompt a revolt against their leaders: Don’t believe whatever your king is telling you. Assyria is stronger than Judah; you have no chance of winning. And don’t trust God to deliver you either. The gods of Assyria are always stronger (vv. 30, 35).

Insulting God was a fatal mistake. The Lord is no local deity, no handcrafted piece of stone like the “gods” of other nations. By denying that God could deliver them, the commander essentially guaranteed his own defeat.

The Israelites on the wall responded admirably—with silence (v. 36). They didn’t argue. They didn’t beg for favorable terms of surrender. They followed King Hezekiah’s orders to say nothing. While the king’s envoys were appalled by the blasphemy and thrown into grief and despair, the people endured the taunting in silence.

The ability to control one’s tongue requires the Holy Spirit’s help. Without Him, “no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).

Pray With Us

Today, pray for Dr. Bryan O’Neal, VP and dean of Moody Distance Learning, and the staff in his office—Albert Chelladurai and Ewa Gutierrez—who work together to provide Christian education to students around the country.

BY Brad Baurain

Dr. Bradley Baurain is Associate Professor and Program Head of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Moody Bible Institute. Bradley has the unique privilege of holding a degree from four different universities (including Moody). He has just published his first book, On Waiting Well. Bradley taught in China, Vietnam, the United States, and Canada. Bradley and his wife, Julia, have four children and reside in Northwest Indiana.