April 25

“The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah hath made even both of them.” Proverbs 20:12

Alas, very few Christians are good listeners! We shall have to take ourselves rigorously in hand if we are to acquire hearing ears. Our ears must be trained to listen. It is possible to pay scant attention to what people say to us, because we are so impressed with the importance of what we wish to communicate to them. We are just waiting for an opportunity to break in and take up the role of speaker again, assuming, naturally, that they will meekly accept the role of good listeners!

Let us not consider this a trifling matter. If we do not learn to listen, and listen understandingly, although we may become prominent preachers or Bible expositors we shall be useless at helping people to deal with their practical difficulties. There are far more times when we need to learn to use our ears than to open our mouths.