SHUT UP!

SHUT UP!

(1^st Kings 13:1-32)

He walked into the hall, arm in arm with his wife. They looked good together, they have been married for 35 years. He was 65, she was 60.

His friend, the Ambassador of France had invited them for a dinner he was hosting in honor of the President of France who was in the Country on an official visit.

He is French, married to an Italian and they have been living in the Country for over 20 years. They both run a restaurant in the capital city and a farm in the countryside. He was a celebrity chef, so he gets invites to these social gatherings.

He introduced him to the few dignitaries he had never met before. “I am Francois La Croix, a French businessman”, he said. And he added: “I am the only French man who has been faithful to his wife for 35 years!”

The people laughed!

But one single, young lady heard him.

And she smiled wryly….

“You are the only French man who has been faithful to his wife for 35 years? We will see about that!”

She decided to take him on.

And in 6 months, she got into his bed. When they were done, she turned to him and smiled, “I guess you are no more the only French man who has been faithful to his wife!”

Francois La Croix would probably still have been faithful to his wife IF HE HAD KEPT HIS MOUTH SHUT!

Your faithfulness to your spouse is your business, it is not for the public to know.

God gave a prophet an assignment. He gave him INSTRUCTIONS on how to go about it. The prophet went ahead to carry out the assignment. Then he ran his mouth unnecessarily. God had told him, “do not eat anything on the journey, do not return the same way you go”

The prophet met the King and the King told him, “come home with me, I will give you a reward.”

The prophet could have simply refused and walked away. But no, he had to run his mouth! He said, “I will not go with you. God told me I should not eat or drink and I should not return through the same route”  (1^st Kings 13:7-9).

Now, why did he say this? Why did he divulge this info? He needn’t do that.

The prophet had no DISCRETION.

Just like Francois La Croix.

Just like a lot of us…

When the prophet gave out this info, someone heard him and related it to another prophet who decided to test him. He ran after him and convinced him to return home with him to eat, going against the INSTRUCTIONS God gave him initially. The irony is, the other prophet told him, “I am a prophet too, Bro! An angel told me to invite you to my home for dinner!” He fell for the deceit and it cost him his life.

If he had SHUT UP, if he had not run his mouth, he wouldn’t have died when he did.

It is not everything we know we say.

It is not everything God tells us we talk about.

We must learn to keep things in our hearts.

After Mary birthed the Christ, she heard things. She saw things. But she said NOTHING: she kept everything in her heart (Luke 2:19).

Mary did not run her mouth unnecessarily.

When Jesus was 12 and went missing in Jerusalem, His parents were worried. They eventually found Him in the Temple. They said, “Why did you do this? We have been worried about you for 3 days!” Jesus replied, “why were you looking for me: don’t you know I must be doing my Father’s business?”

Mary heard this. But she didn’t tell anyone about it. It never got on Social Media, it was never on any blog or space. It was not on her Whatsapp Status. Scripture says, “His mother kept all these sayings in her heart” (Luke 2:48-51).

But we live in an era where society expects you to flaunt your achievements. Discretion is a virtue that has been thrown into the bin: you are encouraged to always seek external validation!

So, you buy a car, you post on Social Media for the world to see.

You get a visa? The world must know!

You visit Trafalgar Square in London or Eiffel Tower in Paris? Flaunt it!

But as Christians, we are not of this world: scripture says we are Citizens of Heaven (Philippians 3:20) so we don’t live with the principles of the world. We don’t behave anyhow: DISCRETION is our watch word.

When we do not learn to keep quiet, God will find it difficult to trust us with deep things. There were things Paul saw and heard. He wrote, “I know a man… who was caught up in Paradise, and he heard things nobody is allowed to talk about” (2^nd Corinthians 12: 2-4). There are things you just don’t talk about!

God gave him that experience of Paradise because He trusted he would not run his mouth and start telling everybody what he saw.

Even as a married man, there are things you keep to yourself: Scripture says “…Guard the words of your mouth from the woman who lies in your embrace” (Micah 7:5).

You don’t go blabbing your mouth to your wife every time.

Women are not wired to handle some issues about life, Men are not wired to be loquacious.

To go far with God, to have deep experiences with Him…

YOU MUST LEARN TO SHUT UP!

Shalom,

Haruna Daniels