Men Listened

Job 29:21 ESV

Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.

It’s a tough job. The last few years I believe the hardest job on the planet has been White House press secretary. President Trump would cycle through individuals and having just watched a segment of President Biden’s Press Secretary fielding questions focused on his handling of documents and his comments all I can think is “that’s a hard job”. To speak for someone who is actively speaking and acting against what you said or will say, and then to do so surrounded by intelligent people hired to ask pointed questions. Getting through an answer seems to be a significant challenge as time and again you are interrupted.

This plays out repeatedly as hosts and guests often refuse to wait for others to finish speaking. The clock is ticking and points need to be scored, seems to be the pattern of communication espoused and taught by conservative and progressives alike. It doesn’t seem to matter the format, one on one, round table, or “press secretary” no one wishes to honor another. All clamor to find a punch line at the expense of the other, that they might win more political points, elevate their brand, and win celebrity status.

As Job found himself thrown from respectability, he bemoaned the loss of his honor. What has occurred? No one listens or cares what he thinks. The mark of someone caring for him was that they would allow him time to think about what they said, time to finish what he wanted to say, and then they would think about what he said. The inverse of this then is people not honoring and not caring is those that require a quick answer, those that refuse to allow you to finish speaking, and those that don’t bother to pause and think about what you have said. Communication has become combative and lightning fast, a blitzkrieg of words to win the day. Generations trained in the quick-witted response of television sitcoms have grown to believe they must be as quick and witty as those that had hours bent over paper compiling scripts, and they have succeeded.

As communication has become the battleground, how are we to treat others as we wish to be treated? Definitions change, do we out of respect honor new definitions and renounce the truth in favor of double-speak? Vocabulary, definitions, and communication have become the new battlefield for the hearts and minds of a generation. Is all fair in war? Christians have always held that everything is not fair in love or war. Now we must understand that Christians communicate in a certain manner and way that includes listening, contemplating, and responding. In a society bereft of love, we must learn to love in how we speak with our neighbor even when they don’t love us in return.

Coram Deo