Go Near and Listen

How many times have you said to yourself, no one knows more about this [subject] than me. After which you immediately proceed to open your mouth and spew forth your profound intelligence for anyone who will listen. Do you know anyone like this who frequently feels compelled to tell everyone, everything he or she may know on a particular subject…and then some. I do, me! OK! So why am I bearing it all now? Is this just more spewing? I hope not.

As is the case most mornings, I find myself at my desk long before the sun, the family, the dog, or even the neighbors’ chickens rise. Some might say, this guy needs to get a life. My response, this is my life. Three days ago, as I was sitting here I asked the Lord to show me another glimpse of Himself and like so many of us, I picked up my Bible and said, “God how about just letting it open up to the wisdom that you want me to learn today?” So I proceed to set it down on the desktop on its binding and let go. Yea..right! But guess what, while it did not open by some preordained phenomena to the exact page, it did get very close to the gem that prompted me to write this brief essay.

Funny, how I start to write something and bingo, another gem pops up. Here it is.  God’s answer to our prayer almost always requires some effort or involvement on our part. I wanted God to flop the Bible open and draw my eyes directly to the spot that would inspire me or teach me, or maybe just give me a shove in the right direction for the day. God says Jay, I’ll get you close, but you are going to have to go the rest of the way on your own. I’m not going to do it all for you. If you don’t invest some of yourself, then what value would it be? Wow! Now I ask myself, is this the real gem that was waiting for all along, or is this a case of God giving me more than I asked for. Perhaps God is not so dumb after all and takes advantages of these little windows into our hearts that we open to Him. Maybe God says, hey, Jay is listening (which doesn’t happen near often enough) I think I’ll take advantage of this opportunity. I have a feeling that this may very well be the case. Because God gave us free will, He only speaks to an open and willing heart.

OK , now how do I transition this story back onto the path from this rabbit trail? How about this. “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.” Ecc. 5:2. This is the gem that God drew me near to and then asked me to dig for.

Ask anyone who knows me. Heck, ask anyone who has been around me for more than five minutes and there is a very good chance that they will tell you that I talk a lot…I mean a lot! Some call this the gift of gab. Others may refer to it as running off at the mouth. The politically correct will say  ‘what a gifted and motivational speaker he is.’ It all comes down to this. I like to talk!  No, I love it. My wife sometimes has to leave the room because I get on a roll and won’t stop. There are few things in this life that fire me up more than standing in front of a group of people and sharing some life changing truth or humorous story that I hope will make some difference in their lives. To be honest, it is intoxicating to have a crowd hang on your every word. It may not be the adrenaline rush of flying a jet fighter at treetop level at 500 mph, but it can be close at times.

God gave me this gift. The ability to communicate to others via the written and spoken word, and one gem at a time, He is teaching me how and when to use it.

If you are like me, and someone starts up a conversation on a subject that you know something about, do you ever feel compelled to jump in and take over the conversation with your point of view or your personal experience? If so, consider this old axiom. ‘God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason, because He desires for us to draw near and listen twice as much as we speak.’ Makes sense if you think about it. How much do we learn when we are talking? Is it necessary or beneficial to others if we pontificate on and on and on.  Are we honoring others by making their time, our time.

I would like to offer this suggestion and then I’m done. Before we begin to speak, quietly draw near and ask God to focus our thoughts and our words. Listen to His response. Consider the time of the other person. Finally, practice the following: Be Brief, Be Brilliant, Be Gone.

Jay Houston