The Importance Of Listening
How good are we at listening? It is arrogant to think that only we have good ideas and that we needn’t listen to others. Yet, don’t we often act as though we have the answers because we don’t take the time to ask someone what they think? Do we just make decisions or do we get input from our spouse and, when they are affected, from our children? If we are secure and confident in God’s ability to guide us, why not seek out the counsel of others (Prov 11:14)? Who knows? Maybe He will speak to us through others. He spoke to Balaam through a donkey (Num 22:28-31), to Naaman through a little girl (2 Ki 5), and to righteous king Josiah through a pagan leader (2 Chron 35:20-24). He just might talk to others instead of only to us!
Listening to others is important. For instance, when Eisenhower was president he wanted to get the opinions of his staff before he made up his mind about something. Napoleon was the same way. He wanted to hear their views and why they believed as they did in case they had a better idea than he did. Likewise, in 1871, Crook was sent to stop the Apaches in northern Arizona. Crook admitted that he was ignorant about both the Arizona territory and the Apaches. As a result, when he got to Arizona he asked everyone for input about all relevant facts on which he was uninformed. He then inspected his resources in men and equipment before developing what proved to be an effective strategy (Blumenson and Stokesbury, Masters of the Art of Command, p 207). Of course, Jesus Christ was the ultimate listener because he always did exactly what the Father told Him to do (Jn 5:19).
Apart from Christ, who was a perfect listener (Isa 50:4), every human’s ability to listen is flawed. God commands us, though, to be slow to speak and quick to listen (Jas 1:19). We need to first listen to the Lord and also to listen to what He might be saying through others. Let’s listen! We will undoubtedly learn a lot, both doing and being better for having done so.
Comforting others is costly but worth it.