SLOW DOWN
PROVERBS 18:13 NKJV
He who answers a matter before he hears it,
It is folly and shame to him.
I can't say this is a devotional about my driving, although that’s probably a good idea.
No, this is about another area that I must work on. Being too quick to answer is not God's wisdom for us.
Joy is regularly telling me to let her finish and that I have not heard the whole story. I tend to be very bottom line. So, I will not waste much of your time, but the challenge is not hearing the entire situation.
Jesus gave us a great example of hearing the whole matter before He answered. In John 8, with the woman who was caught in adultery, Jesus listened and heard and then spoke.
The challenge of speaking too quickly before you hear the entire situation is you can give a foolish answer. Too often, I have wound up saying, Oh well, that's a different story. Actually, it wasn't a different story; it's just that I heard half of the matter.
The other benefit of slowing down to hear is that it gives us an opportunity to speak from our heart. And when we speak from our heart, the Holy Spirit can more effectively influence our answer.
I worked for a guy years ago that was well known for his too quick responses. The book on this guy, who was a great guy, by the way, was to ignore his first response. After he fired off something, he would often come back with a much better answer. Typically, he did not have the entire story up front.
So, we train ourselves to slow down and listen, then answer. It makes us appear much wiser and we'll spend less time retracting our words.
If you are one of those wonderful listeners and slow speakers, great, may your tribe increase. And since this devotional does not pertain to you, please share it with someone who would be helped by this godly wisdom.
PRAYER:
Lord, help me to slow down and listen. To be quick to hear and slow to speak.