The book of Job in the Old Testament records the travails of a man named Job, the ineffective assistance provided by his friends, and God's perspective in the whole matter. When Job first loses his wealth and family and then comes down with a painful illness, three of his friends arrive to provide encouragement. They start off well. The Bible records that they sat in silence with Job for seven days. Once they opened their mouths, in an attempt to diagnose Job's sin, their attempt at assistance went down hill.
Job's friends did well initially. They sat in silence with Job, showing their empathy. But when they stopped listening, they became a discouragement to Job.
I am a church goer and have greatly benefited from spending time with believers in fellowship. But the church, being an institution made up of fallen people, is not always exactly what God intended. I think that some churches are plagued by leadership and congregants who don't listen. In fact, in some cases 'listening' is not a discipline that is valued in the church.
I remember when a Catholic friend of mine told me about a trip that her church took to South America (El Salvador I think). I asked her what the purpose of the trip was and was shocked to learn that she had gone on a 'fact finding trip'. Us Protestants don't go on fact finding trips, that requires listening!
Back in college I spent the summer as a counselor and basketball instructor at a camp. The camp also employed high school students as maintenance workers and kitchen help. One night, before the campers arrived at the beginning of the summer, one of these high school guys came into my room and poured out his heart about an unhappy ending to his relationshi
p with his girlfriend. He went on for about 20 minutes and I didn't say anything. I prodded him with a few open ended questions, but that was about it. Suddenly, he stopped, looked at me, and said 'Thanks a lot for your advice! It really helped me.' I hadn't said a thing.Listening is a critical skill for knowing God. We have to listen to His word (the Bible) in order to grow close to Him in relationship. Listening is also a critical skill for human relationships. The church desperately needs listeners!
2 comments:
One of the ways to tell if you are a listner is, as you are reading this comment, do you stop and listen to what I am saying or are you thinking about how you will respond to my words. When you are having a conversion with someone, are you listening? or using the time to form how you will respond?
As I read "The lost Art of LIntening", I was reminded of a verse. Psalms 46:10 - "Be still and know I am God". How many of us really take the time before God to stop and listen to him. Most of us probably spend 10 to 20 minutes a day in mediation and prayer. But how much of that is spent listening to what God has to say? I hate to say, but in my house, very little. I wonder what it would be like to have a prayer meeting where the only one that spoke was God?
And we all know how the book of Job ended. With Job listening to, and agreeing with God.
Job 42:4 Job speaks after listening to the Lord: You said, "Listen now, and I will speak. I will question you and you shall answer me."
and of himself, Job goes on to say. "My ears had heard of you. But now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in my dust and ashes".
I guess without listening, we will not acheive true understanding of God, and find repentance of our wicked ways.
hmmmm... go figure...
So, were you listening? or thinking of how you would respond?
Hi Randy! Great response. I think I personally struggle with being a good listener.
As I wrote the post I felt a little hypocritical. I've now made 101 posts to my blog. That's a lot of spouting off for a person who is advocating listening! : )
I've also thought of creating a 'reverse blog' where the readers write stuff and the 'blogger' reads, listens, and then comments on stuff that the readers wrote. I don't know how I could get that to work though! : )
I recently read that there are 73 million blogs on the internet. I think what we need is less bloggers and more blog readers! : )
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