The Art of Listening

Proverbs 18:13 Let people finish speaking before you try to answer them. That way you will not embarrass yourself and look foolish.

One of the worst things we can ever do is to talk over the top of people, or even just hold our tongue – not with the aim of taking in what’s being said, but just so that we can speak again. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m much more naturally a talker than I am a listener. I guess that’s why I do what I do. I find it very easy to form ideas into words – something that’s effortless for me. 

But the terrible underbelly of that gift is the desire always to talk and never to listen. I’ve had to learn, and still continue to learn, to actually shut up and really listen to people – with the aim of understanding them, where they’re coming from, and what they’re really saying. God puts it like this:

Proverbs 18:13 Let people finish speaking before you try to answer them. That way you will not embarrass yourself and look foolish.

What a sage piece of godly wisdom! We’ve made fools of ourselves by judging people and talking without listening. It’s been said that listening is the art of turning judgement into curiosity. That’s very true. The problem I think for many people is that we’re not all that interested in the other person or what they think.

But when we do become interested in them, when we really hear their heart … man, that is so fascinating, so enlightening, so enriching. The trick is shutting up long enough to hear them speak, and listening to them with an attitude of curiosity rather than of judgement. So … 

Let people finish speaking before you try to answer them. That way you will not embarrass yourself and look foolish.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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