Job 11:2

Should a profusion of words be unanswered?

   Should a loquacious person be vindicated?

 

I received an email this morning from some random person asking for the output of a project. I wanted to laugh as the output would cost about $95,000, but I figured maybe the guy has $95,000 to spend to get the answer, and I passed him on to the boss, so to speak. The boss is a guy who has been trying to help get work for me for about seven years now and I have tried to help him. The $1,000 I have received so far is not worth the effort, but maybe someday.

“Should” was also “shall” or some form of “is” (that is a word). The opposite of the intent in my version was also used like this: “Should a question be answered just because the asker uses a lot of words?” “Profusion” was “multitude”, “all these”, “a long speech”, or a “swarm”. I apparently inserted profusion on my own.

“Loquacious” was also “one full of words”, “this talker”, “a man full of talk”, “someone with ready lips”, and “a smooth talker”. “Vindicated” was also “justified, “right”, or “in the right”. Loquacious is a big word, but I already knew what it meant.

I have heard complaints from people I know about “that person”. You know the one who talks so much no one else can, and they ask stupid questions, and they give wrong answers, but they like to talk so much, they just keep going? I know: “There are no stupid questions.” but I have actually asked some on purpose to be a smart aleck, so I feel grounded calling some questions stupid.

Anyway, I feel like this verse is asking a stupid question on purpose trying to show that Job is an idiot for asking for what he is asking for. I doubt idiot is politically correct, but I am only here to please God, and my wife, and my kids, and my sisters, and anyone else that ever reads this.

I once was the smartest person in the room; on every topic there was. Of course, I was alone. People often come to think they know better than everyone else. Sometimes it is because no one else says anything. Of course, sometimes the person thinking they know better have spoken so much that no one else wants to speak up for fear of being belittled, talked over, or whatever the negative outcome might be. Some people’s confidence is only in comparison or at the expensive of another. Speaking up does not make one right. As we later find, Job was indeed right and his friends who mocked him were not.

One of the avenues in which we can serve God is by being good listening leaders: making sure the meek have an opportunity to share, making sure the bold do not dominate the meek, and making sure the activities we participate in are in step with the will of God and His principles. I deleted a little random thought, but the idea is that we focus on the godly and push away the ungodly. The difference of two letters (of un) is profound, and sometimes we forget to distinguish the difference in what goes on around us. Seek to be a better listener and stand up for those who do not have the strength, even if you have to get the strength from Jesus to do so yourself.

(Written 1/19, Posted 1/29, Job 232)