Stop Talking and Start Listening

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2; 6:11: "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few . . . . The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?"



We live in a world today where there is a lot of talking and not a lot of listening. You only need to watch television talk shows to see that people have opinions and want others to know it; few are willing to stop their exhaustive speech to listen for a change.



The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that the more that one spews out the product of his tongue, the less profit it has for the hearers. A man will talk incessantly to "win" an argument or impress his hearers; but in the end, it's just a bunch of bunk. It has no substance whatsoever.

Particularly when we approach the Lord, we should have a reverential respect and an openness for Him to impart His truth to us. We should never approach God thinking that we're going to tell Him a thing or two; God despises such haughtiness. Our disposition should be one of humility and contrition. We should confess our sins to Him and permit Him to pour into us His eternal Word. We need to stop talking and start listening!

And when we have been transformed by the Lord, we will find contentment within Him; thus, we will be able to share His Word with others in a spirit of love. We will not feel as if we are on a debate team and must vanquish our philosophical foes by winning the "God" argument. To be sure, we must share the propositional truths of Scripture, but we do so in a spirit of love with the hope of transforming redemption for the hearers. We must remember that we are not the ones who "save" people. It is the Holy Spirit who transforms lives (see I Corinthians 12:3).

So let's stop following the trend of the babbling world, that uses a lot of words to say nothing substantive. Let us instead present God and His offering of grace by our spirit of meekness, humility, and love for others. A few words of truth shared through the power of God are as beautiful as "apples of gold in settings of silver" (Proverbs 25:11).