God the Perfect Communicator [Job 11]
1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
2"Shall a multitude of words go unanswered,
And a talkative man be acquitted?
3"Shall your boasts silence men?
And shall you scoff and none rebuke?
4"For you have said, 'My teaching is pure,
And I am innocent in your eyes.'
5"But would that God might speak,
And open His lips against you,
Job's conversation evolved and he began to reach out to God for answers while his third friend, Zophar, continued saying the same things that had already been said by Eliphaz and Bildad, much like a broken record (does anyone remember what a record is?). Job's suffering, questions and conversation were almost irrelevant to Zophar. As I think about communication between people as well as between God and man, there is no comparison. God's message was spoken clearly and repeated throughout the Bible. When He spoke to a man or a situation, He met them at the point of their need. He listened and responded to prayers. He is the perfect communicator.
I know I am a lot like Job's friends at times in that the goal of my conversation is to get my point across without being willing to respond to what the other person is feeling or saying. With some people I have seen myself tell all sorts of things about me and never let them share what is going on in their lives. Then, there are other times when I am engaged in hearing the other person and responding appropriately. As God has grown me, I know that He has done some good work in that area of my life. However, I see through the example of Job and his friends that I have a long way to go for God's goal for me, to be like Jesus in this area of communication.
God is revealing to me that a lot of good communication is simply caring more about what the other person has to say than what I have to say. Seeing those words in writing make me sad because that is pride and not love. It is good to identify those things, but it is better to go to God and ask Him to show me the root unbelief for that pride and lack of love. By God's grace, I plan to spend some time this weekend talking to and listening to God about this. I know He will guide me and continue the good work that He began in me when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
God, we praise You that You are the perfect communicator. Cause us to recognize our areas of poor communication and exchange them for Your love and humility in our conversations. Enable us to find time to work out our root unbelief with You and let You fill us with the faith to be more like Jesus in this area.
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Beth Warlick, 1/21/2011