Rev. Don Campbell
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, AUGUST 8, 2017: THE OTHER SIDE OF COMMUNICATING
Yesterday we began with a thought on communicating effectively and then focused on three passages from the Book of Proverbs on the subject of speaking. Speaking is one side of communication. The other is listening. Sometimes we only listen for a place to butt in and rebut the speaker.
We should listen to the whole person with the whole person. That is, we should consider not just the words of another, but the tone, the facial expressions, and the gestures. In other words, we should listen with our ears, our eyes, and our hearts. When Jesus said, “for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks,” he was referring to the evil thoughts of the heart which surface in speech. However, it is true that we sometimes speak from the overflow of a burdened heart. We should, therefore, listen for doubts, fears, uncertainties, and any other non-verbals which might help us understand the heart of the individual.
Job’s so-called friends had taken turns verbally battering him and Eliphaz accused him of being full of hot air and not fearing God (Job 15:1-4). After he had landed his last blow, Job responded:
“I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
Shall windy words have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
I also could speak as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you
and shake my head at you.
I could strengthen you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain (Job 16:1-5).
Job’s friends had come to debate, not to dialogue. When winning the argument is one’s goal, one joins the company of the Pharisees who plotted how to entangle Jesus in his words, joining forces with the Herodians and asking him if it were lawful to pay taxes to Caesar (Matt 22:15-22). If he said, “Yes,” the Pharisees could accuse him of being disloyal of the Davidic kingdom for which they longed. If he said, “No,” the Herodians could accuse him of sedition.
The chief priests and scribes did accuse him of this very thing before Pilate: “Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.’ And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?’ And he answered him, ‘You have said so.’ They had lost the debate (Matt 22:34,46), so they turned to bloodshed in an attempt to silence him.
We enjoy religious freedom today, but that does not mean that many “Pharisees” do not have a murderous spirit and will resort to character assassination when they cannot defeat logical and scriptural arguments.
