Little Chats With God

Posts Tagged ‘listening’

“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…”  James 1:19James 1:19
English: World English Bible - WEB
19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;

WP-Bible plugin (NIV)

Lord, when I read this verse again this morning it reminded me of the principle I was taught so long ago: God gave man two ears and one mouth because He intended them to be used in that proportion.

I have taught it many times over the years, but when I read this I found myself wondering, as I do with so many things, whether I actually do it. Do I really pay twice as much attention to what others are saying as I do to speaking myself? Even when I’m not speaking, am I really listening, or am I simply being quite while I prepare what I am going to say next? You know the answers to those questions, Lord, and I know that they are not what I would really like them to be.

Then there is something else here, Lord – something that I had never really noticed till this morning. You put becoming angry in the same basket with the whole listening and speaking thing. Interesting. Are You trying to tell us that often our unnecessary anger is a result of speaking too quickly and not listening enough? Of not really hearing what the other person is saying because we are so focused on what we are trying to get across?

If that’s the case, then could a lot of anger be resolved by us laying aside our own agenda for a while and listening – really listening – to what the other person has to say. Not just hearing their words, but hearing their heart. Could it be that if we stop to really hear them, then we may find that they are not so different from us after all, or at least that we can understand their position?

Come to think of it, that sort of listening could not only resolve a lot of the anger between individuals. On a national basis, it could also stop a lot of wars.

Lord, next time my mouth is flapping around when I should be listening to the other person, stop me. Next time I am ignoring what someone else is saying because I am too busy preparing my next monologue, stop me. You gave me two ears and one mouth: teach me to use them in that proportion.