Pastor’s Bible Reading Schedule:
Job 8-10
Key Thought:
Listening to others should not be mere passive hearing, but an active experience in which we enter into the lives of others. It is a privilege to bear one another burdens and blessings. Bildad shows us how not to listen to someone who is hurting. By negative example, he shows us how not to be a friend to someone who is hurting. Careful listening must be accompanied by astute thinking and a restrained mouth. There are certain principles that we should observe when listening. (1) Listen more than you speak. Do not make the conversation about you. Your similar situation probably doesn’t need to be shared at the beginning. (2) Express appreciation for the person. This is something that none of Job’s “comforters” did. (3) Try not to interrupt the other person. Interrupting them to make a point will only further frustrate them. (4) Do not immediately correct the other person. To speak before you know the overall story from both sides is to speak inaccurately and to compound the problem. (Prov. 18:13) (5) Ask insightful questions. Remember one of my favorite quotes, “Questions prick the heart while accusations harden the will.”
Prayer Requests:
Personal
- Lord, please help me to be a good listener and to practice good listening principles.
- Lord, please help me to be sensitive to the needs of people around me.
- Lord, please help me to be a true servant and seek to bear burdens and rejoice in blessing!
Political
- US Representative Fred Upton
- Representative Scott VanSingel
- Representative Greg VanWoerkom