Lately, I’ve been thinking about the ways that I try to help people in need. Sometimes, I even think about it in the middle of the night. There is a ton of biblical evidence that God waits until He has our undivided attention and then nudges us out of our sleep to commune with us. That has happened quite a number of times to me throughout the years. But it also happened to King David, several of the psalmists and others as well.
One of the things that I have been contemplating is how I tend to be the kind of guy who tries to “fix” things. When people approach me about an issue that they are having, I usually go straight to the Bible and start to tell stories of how these things were handled in the Scripture. I may even give illustrations of what I would do or have done in similar situations.
The problem is that I have learned from our own kids that sometimes they don’t want me to solve their issues – they want me to listen – to just be there. Now this has been a bitter pill for me to swallow. After all, I’m a fixer. But I have learned, with some difficulty, that it is best to ask whether they want me to solve a problem – or just listen. More times than not, I confess that it sounds like they just want me to listen…
So I am learning how to do that in the ministry world as well. I am used to teaching Bible studies and have done so for about 25 years. People ask me more questions than I can possibly count and I enjoy coming up with the biblical answers that they are inquiring about. But sometimes, people just want to talk and don’t want me to turn on “fixer” mode.
During the past several months, I have come across several friends who have had physical or financial problems that they mention to me. I have started to consider things in a new way. Rather than discuss theology or any of the “what if” hypothetical questions that invariably come my way, I have taken a different approach. In fact, my new way of handling things is a result of my late night interactions with God. My approach is to drop the teacher mode and know that the best course of action is to just sit there and offer to hold their hand. Sometimes, silence is the best medicine, far and away.
Our verse for tonight is from the book of Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon, who was referred to as the wisest man who ever lived. He wrote one of the most famous chapters in the Bible, immortalized by The Byrds, a well known rock group who made it an international hit in 1965. If you guessed the song, “Turn, Turn, Turn” you are correct. The song highlights the first eight verses of Ecclesiastes 3. It just so happens that our verse for tonight is Ecclesiastes 3:7, but for the sake of old times, here are the verses used in the that famous song.
King Solomon teaches us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to reap, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
Solomon reminds us that there is a time to be silent and a time to speak, things that we don’t often recall or even think about. My encouragement this evening is that there are different sorts of times – and sitting there holding a hand in silence is powerful stuff. My prayer is that we will all be more attentive to the needs of those around us and make the right decisions as to how to best serve others. Who knows? Maybe God will nudge you in the watches of the night as well. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…