I Heard That

“...everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak...” - James 1:19

In the past thirteen months, I have received more opinions and advice than I can process.  I have been through some hard times in the past few years, some of it my own doing and some of it out of my control, and I have met so many people with so many ideas of how I should handle things and a willingness to say it.  Most of them had never walked in my shoes or experienced what I was experiencing yet they had answers they felt I needed to hear.  I know they meant well but very few of them helped me and several of them just made me more angry, more fearful, and more lost.

I was blessed with some special friends, people that I know God put in my life to be listeners.  They were quick to listen and slow to speak.  They let me say the things I needed to say without judgment and without telling me what to do.  They gave me time to breathe, time to mourn, time to vent and time to think.  And, when I asked for their advice, they prayed with me and talked with me and usually in that order.  

In James letter, he goes on to explain this idea of quick to listen and slow to speak with regards to our anger but I feel confident I can pull it out of context and his words are just as valuable and just as inspired.  Even more, I think they are exactly the words God wants me to hear in my relationship with him.  You see, I’ve longed viewed God as a Father I can talk to, someone I can open to and tell him what I feel like I need to tell him...and, I know he listens.  He listens.  Yet I think he wants me to know hear him say, “Jeff, be quick to listen to me and slow to speak to me.  You see, Jeff, I want to share wisdom with you if you would just be quiet for a minute and quit giving me advice on how to make your life what you think you want it to be.”  

Oh, how I told God the plans I thought were best.  I told God the when’s, where’s and how’s of making my troubled world so much better when I should have been like the people I wanted around me, willing to listen, willing to understand me, willing to know what I had to say.  I think God often shakes his head while listening to me ramble, thinking, “Be quiet, son, and I will tell you things that will bring you joy and light and peace.”  

I want to be much quicker to listen and much slower to speak so that my anger doesn’t open the door to me saying something stupid.  Even more, I want to be always quick to listen and slow to speak when I’m in the presence of God because through his son I can know more about the way, the truth and the life for my life.  I can’t know God better talking, just listening.  

Oh, how I want to know God.  That’s all.  I’ll be quiet now.

Grace and peace to you.

Jeff Jones

Decatur, Texas