“It Pays to Keep Silent”
June 18, 2025
I once heard a story about a couple, Marge and Ed, who attended an annual fair in Iowa. Good food, exciting exhibits, amusement rides, and even helicopter rides were offered at the fairground. Every year Ed was attracted to the fifty-dollar helicopter ride; however, Marge was not in favor of the expense. She always proclaimed, “After all, Ed, fifty dollars is fifty dollars.”
Finally, the time came when Ed was determined to take the helicopter ride. He was getting older and did not know how much longer he would be able to attend the annual fair. So he told Marge he was going to spring for the fifty-dollar fare, to which she said, “Ed, fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” The helicopter pilot overheard Marge and Ed discussing this, and he approached them with a deal. The pilot said, “I’ll give you a free helicopter ride as long as you don’t say one word during the flight. If you break your silence, then you’ll have to pay fifty dollars.”
Thinking this was a great deal, Marge and Ed went for the ride, during which the pilot performed all kinds of twists, turns, and dives. But Marge and Ed never spoke a word. When they landed, the pilot told Ed that he was impressed that Ed kept silent, to which Ed replied, “Well, I almost said something on that last turn when Marge fell out of the helicopter, but after all, fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” It paid to keep silent!
Solomon suggested in Ecclesiastes 3:8b, “there is a time to keep silent and a time to speak”, but he did not specify when those times should be. So, what are those times that we should exercise the wisdom of Solomon and keep silent?
One of those times to keep silent is when we are tempted to complain. Even though health professionals have long touted that complaining is good for our health because it helps to get something off our chests, God’s word is not as favorable towards it. Philippians 2:14, “Do all things without grumbling…,” which is God’s way of saying stop complaining. Yet, complaining seems to be many people’s default setting. It is much easier to complain than to refrain from complaining and we may not realize how much we grumble in a day.
One of the more notorious complaints in the Bible may be found in Numbers 13 where we read about the twelve Israelite spies who were sent to explore the Promised Land of Canaan. God commanded Moses to send these leaders, one from each tribe, to scout the land and assess its people, cities, and produce. When the spies return, all but Joshua and Caleb, gave a bad report.
31 But the men who had gone up with him [Caleb] said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” 32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. 33 There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:31-33)
These people complained against God, they complained against God calling them to go into the land, they complained because the odds were against them humanly speaking. And in their disbelief and complaining against God they caused the whole nation to grumble and as a result God they paid for their murmuring with their lives. If only they had remained silent!
36 As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, 37 even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land. (Numbers 14:36-38)
Grumbling is contagious and our discontent, critical spirits, grumbling attitudes, and murmuring complaints will infect other people. And more than that, grumbling is an emotional rejection of God’s will and providence. It is an emotional rejection of our circumstances and the circumstances God has chosen for our lives and the requirements He has for our conduct. God’s severe judgment of the complaining spies is an example to us of how He feels about a complaining spirit.
I once saw a YouTube video about a man who purchased a neck collar that was a complaint zapper. Every time he complained, the collar would send an electric shock to his body. It was amazing to see how many times the guy got zapped, from complaining about the traffic on the way to work, the rainy weather, or the cold coffee at the office Zap! Zap! Zap! He felt the collar was too sensitive so he called the company’s complaint department to file a complaint. Well, you can imagine what that looked like when attempting to register a complaint while wearing a complaint zapper. Zap! Zap! Zap!
How are you doing in the complaint department? What are your common complaints? Are you aware of how many times you complain in a given day? How good are you at keeping silent at the appropriate times?