“If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.”
During this holiday season we love to watch Christmas movies. One we watch is “The Polar Express.” Most of you have seen it. There is one kid on the train with glasses among a bunch of other kids, all of which are traveling to the North Pole to see Santa Clause. This one kid is so annoying due to fact that at the beginning of the movie he will not stop talking and making to matters worse. Not to mention that his voice is also irritating. Don’t judge me on this because he is a very important part of movie. When he opens his mouth it’s like he hijacks a great train ride making it into a grueling trek listening to his banter.
Job was in the same spot. His friends come to console him and who wouldn’t? The man just had his entire family and possessions blown away by Satan. After many days just sitting in silence with Job, the first friend, Eliphaz, cannot help himself and starts in on his brand of wisdom. This only happens after Job goes on a rant about how he should of never been born. You cannot help but feel for Job. We all go through some really hard stuff and I will bet the same thoughts have run across your brain. With good intentions, his friends try to console him by interpreting his plight in life as something Job has done, a sin he forgot to bring before the Lord.
I have been guilty of doing the same thing to my girls. They would come to me and present a problem at school or with a friend and I would listen long enough to start in on the “solution.” For men, this is an automatic response. It is like a reaction for most men. We hear an issue and we must fix it. Some of the time this works great but most of time, with my girls and wife, I have learned that just because I was presented with a problem or issue I don’t have to fix it. My wife came to me after one of those times, I tried to fix things and everything flipped. My daughter came to me with a problem, I tried to fix it, and before you know it, I was the problem. Sound familiar? She told me “sometimes you have to listen to them and when they get through talking you say ‘I am sorry you had a bad day, I love you and tomorrow will be better’. And just like that I became the wisest man who ever lived. All I had to do was shut up and listen.
James 1:19 tells us, everyone (not only men,) that we should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. It would seem that my wife, and every women out there, knows this better than men do.
Job’s friends showed up when he was in trouble, that was great. They sat with him for seven days not saying a word, again very wise. They listened to him rant about his suffering and pain, very good. So what was so bad with Job’s friends? They did the same thing I used to do with my girls, they tried to fix it. They looked at the situation, began to understand it, even tried to empathize with Job. But when they started to fix it is when their brand of wisdom became like hearing that little boy on train in Polar Express, annoying.
I cannot tell you how many times I needed to only listen and show mercy to the ones who were talking to me without trying to fix things. What made matters worse it that Job’s friends thought that real problem was him and his sin. The unconfessed kind. Can I tell you that Jesus did not call us to be the sin police. He did not call us to be the janitor either. He called us to tell everyone that good news of the gospel. We are called to be free from sin because it blinds us, misdirects us, confuses us, entangles us, and so much more.
Today, if you find yourself talking to someone who is in pain, show some love and mercy. Then, when the time is right tell them that Jesus loves them and he wants to take that pain away. Don’t go into fix it mode because you find that you become like that annoying little kid on the train, all you want him to do is stop talking.
Prayer: Father, I pray that we all would understand the right times to speak and the right times to be silent. I pray that we stop going to fix it mode and go toward showing people Jesus and how He can take all their pain and turn it into a testimony. I pray that we use wisdom when we speak and that we would be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. In Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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