What?????????

Proverbs 18:13 He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.

I spent about five years in the car business just out of high school, and in sales we were taught to control the conversation. If a customer was going down a road you didn’t want to go down, interrupt and take it where you wanted it to go. You could also sometimes build rapport with the customer if you knew what you thought they were talking about, or going to say. Let’s just say I believe the success rate was in the lower percentile. It was simply rude and a manipulative sales technique that haunted me for many years. Being a poor listener and interrupting continued well past the car-biz. Thankfully as a part of sanctification the Lord is teaching me to shut up and listen more.

The Message translation of this scripture simplifies it even more; 13 Answering before listening is both stupid and rude. So many times we think we know what people are going to say, so we finish their sentences, or maybe even answer before they even ask. If we were not so consumed with ourselves we would see the disgust in their facial expressions at our rudeness. We are saying to them, what we have to say is more important. Solomon also wrote about the prideful sinner who wouldn’t listen; Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. (NIV) There are countless errors in life, that have led us astray in life, simply from not listening to advice, or someone who God had placed before us. God may have placed his servant before us for exactly what we needed to hear, but we interrupted them, and never heard the word from God.

This is even a trait that I believe is rooted in our sin-state from birth, rooted deep in sin and pride that came from the fall of man. I believe pride is the root of all sin, traceable from when Satan was cast from heaven for wanting to be like God. We see it in our children as they grow up; constantly reminding them to be not interrupt, or to shut-up and listen for lack of a better word. This is a character-trait that God will work on for you if you will pursue him like Solomon did. God granted Solomon to be the wisest man who ever lived. Don’t you think it is good advice to shut up and listen to the Holy Spirit inspired words that he wrote?