Job 11:3
Your prattle may silence others,
No one may shut you up when you mock the truth.
In the course of my life I have encountered a large number of women who can talk and talk and talk. I met another this week and I began to wonder if women who spoke all through dinner never ate enough to not be skinny. I was reminded of a phrase that ends with “you never know if they are lying”. Everyone has a story and it can be so easy to think they made that one up.
“Prattle” was also “babble”, “idle talk”, “empty talk”, “lies”, “bluster”, and “rantings”. I find these wide array of suggestions both sad that they could not decide on a word and delighted that it gives me a better feel for what the poet was trying to communicate. “Silence” was also “hold their peace” and others was many generic terms.
“You mock” was also “Cow them with sarcasm”. Only my favorite source had the truth and although it may be implied, I much preferred the clarity from inclusion. “Shut you up” was also “shame you”, “rebuke you”, “restrains you”, and “protests”. Protests was the only one that seemed “truthful” as I am sure the others were tried.
In a book I am reading, a character can remember everything as if it were a photo. This would come in handy trying to remember all the passwords I have, but it was suggested this talent was simply a parlor trick. I know someone who has a similarly unusual sense of recall, but I forgot his name. (Just kidding.) The point is that God gives each of us talents useful in the world. It is our job to use these talents for the everyday tasks God has before us. And sometimes when others without the talent are offended, they attack with words or lies.
My memory is not perfect, but I have enough stories that I do not have to lie to entertain and enough knowledge to not have to prattle on to help other learn. My flesh probably craves the adoration of others and the boost of one upping another, but my life is Christ’s and my job is to love them and build them up and to share enough for them to seek Him or a better relationship with Him.
At a critical work event this week, I was torn between trying to do my job correctly and trying to not offend the people who were with me. I wanted some information from them and will need more, so I did not want to make them an enemy. In the end, I use the talker to be the buffer and allow me to do my thing without impinging the data flow. Turns out she had already impinged it with prior encounters with the others, so all went as well as needed.
In Bible study yesterday, I found that I often struggle to find the next exact thing God wants me to do and might be missing out by not looking at the bigger picture. God wants us to make disciples. If that is all we ever try to do, then we will not be missing the point.
(Written 1/28, Posted 1/31, Job 233)