Wisdom From Watson

“God has given us two ears, but one tongue, to show that we should be swift to hear, but slow to speak. God has set a double fence before the tongue, the teeth and the lips, to teach us to be wary that we offend not with our tongue.” -Puritan Thomas Watson

It would be great if this was a constant running thought in our mind, but unfortunately it isn’t. Well at least it isn’t for me. If we are honest we would all say we find our ears aren’t working at all and our mouths works overtime. That’s why we are reminded in the bible many times about this. Proverbs 17:28 – “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” And also James 1:19 -” Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath”

A key part for good communication is listening to others. That’s the only way we will understand them. We will never understand anyone by talking over them. By doing this we will show others that we don’t respect them or their thoughts.

Its so easy to jump the gun and run our mouth. It’s much easier than just sitting back and listening. But doing so, we drive up the probability of coming across as arrogant, obnoxious, and offensive. With our tongue we can break the morale of the person speaking with us, but by being slow to speak and quick to listen we can be a shoulder to the hurting and broken. With our tongue we can make everything about us, but with the ear we can show compassion by being a good listener.

Conflicts of all kinds rise up daily and we need to be able to listen so we can work through them. This doesn’t mean to completely shut the gates down on the tongue though. We should listen but we should also speak when the time comes. Dont be abusive with the tongue but also don’t open yourself or others up to abuse by always staying silent. Proverbs 31:9 “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

It’s a balancing act of listening and speaking. With prayer, meditating on the scripture, and putting everything into practice, we can be slow to speak and quick to listen. Pray that God would give you a good ear to listen and wisdom to help you speak appropriately and on time.