Slow to Speak Quick to Listen

We live in a world of talk. Talk, talk, talk. Speak, speak, speak. Ours is the age of talk radio (news talk, sports talk, money talk, self-help talk, car talk, I-just-want-to-talk talk), podcasts and cell phones. Everyone, it seems, wants to be heard.  Think of the news today it’s about who can talk over each other and get their own words in, we don’t listen.
 
I was in Starbucks the other day and the gentleman in front of me was ordering a caramel macchiato while talking to a buddy on his iPhone. The barista was more than gracious as the customer stopped and started his order apparently not able to put his other conversation on hold (I saw a sign in a restaurant that said, "We'll serve you once you hang up the phone".
 
Think about how many conversations we hear while traveling on an airplane. People try and get in their last-minute calls before it takes off and then when it lands, it picks right back up. I was on a business trip a few months ago and after being in training all day we had to load up in a bus back to our hotel. Instead of just sitting back and looking at the window and watching the Atlanta traffic, everyone was making calls after calls. I heard conversations from them talking to their friends and family and the hearing some conversations that I didn’t need to hear. We have become a culture full of talking heads regardless of where we find ourselves. And the chatter is deafening.
 
While I was sitting there I thought about what is said in James: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak. This exhortation is almost unintelligible to a culture intent on talking. We have it backwards: we are quick to speak, slow to hear.
 
I remember when I was a young leader, I had a meeting with a rep about their performance. I asked a question and as they started to tell me what going on, I jumped in. I started talking and talking… giving advice and telling them how to fix what was going on. After about 5 minutes of me talking the rep jumped in and said I appreciate the advice but you didn’t listen to what I said. I sat back in my chair and thought in my head of course I did, but of course I didn’t say that. I said to them “Ok so tell me again what you said” telling myself I heard exactly what they said. I was so wrong about what they were telling me. I was so quick to jump in that I heard something totally different and here I was giving them advice on something they didn’t even need. How many times have we given wrong advice to people because we were not listening to them?
 
I thought about the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42 Luke offers us a helpful contrast in speaking and listening. Martha was frantically trying to make dinner preparations for Jesus and the disciples. I envision her running around the house uttering things under her breath like, “I can’t believe Jesus is here on such short notice—not to mention all his disciples—and I have to pull this dinner together.” And, “Why doesn’t Mary get in here and help me?” Unlike Martha, Mary "sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching" (10:39).
 
Not surprisingly, Martha gets a bit frustrated at Mary’s lack of effort with the event. So Martha does what we probably all would do under similar circumstances—she starts talking: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me” (10:40). We are not left to wonder which course of action Jesus commends. We see it in his gentle rebuke: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Mary was quick to listen and slow to speak. She knew when to be quiet. In a culture full of chatter I want to learn the discipline of silence so I can hear what the Lord wants to teach me. He’s speaking; am I listening?
 
We have to learn to be fast to listen and slow to speak if we are wanting to grow in our relationships and even in our relationship with Christ. If you a believer do you do a lot of talking with Christ or do you stop and listen. Remember God does wanting to talk to him but it’s no different than your own relationship with your spouse or Friends. As they want you to stop and listen to them so does God.
 
What radical measures can you take to help you listen not only to God but to other people? What things in your life are blocking out the voice of God?