The Folly of a Poor Listener
“He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him…” (Proverbs 18:13 KJV)
The most important skill of one who would give wise counsel to others is the skill of being a good listener. A good listener is not only is skilled at listening the spoken word, but he is also attentive to other forms of communication e.g., body language and voice inflection. Sometimes, with people we know well, we may think we know what they are about to say, so we react and begin to respond before they finish talking. When they say something and we assume that we know where the conversation is going, we stop listening attentively to what they are trying to communicate as we start to formulate our answer.
Miscommunication like this, at the very least can cause confusion and at the worst lead to a foolish and shameful mistake. We need to listen more and speak less, and at least hold our tongues until we have truly heard and understood the matter before us. To truly hear a matter, oftentimes we may need to listen to people on the other side of the matter before we can advise anyone.
Read Proverbs 18:17; 27:17; James 1:19-20