Practicing the Godly Pause

UV 2186/10000 Practising the Godly Pause
And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
Exodus 4 v 10

God’s ways of communication is not only be means of voice. He does not rely on human eloquence to convey His message to His people. In fact, Moses’ avowed and self confessed slowness of speech and tongue was an asset to the kingdom of God. The simple rod in his hand proved more effective than the human tongue. The Lord can use whatever we have in our possession to impact in a given situation provided we surrender it to His use. Our handicaps and weaknesses can be turned into assets by the grace of the Lord. St Paul was said to be weak of speech and yet he proved to be one of most effective communicators of the good news of Jesus. If we can practice a deliberate slowness of speech and if we are slow to display negative emotions like anger and annoyance, it would in fact be beneficial to all. More thought would go into our words and our actions. We would be allowing time for the Holy Spirit to counsel us before, we speak, act or react. Scripture says that when words multiply, sin abounds. Manger leaders or managers need to practice the godly pause. It is not inaction or inertness but a silence pregnant with prayer, seeking, searching, counsel and wisdom.

In the past few years, the world witnessed the eloquence of Barack Obama. His glib tongue, quickness of thinking deceptive eloquence catapulted him to the most powerful office in the world. He used his eloquence to mask or cloak his true self and real convictions in matters of faith, doctrinal truths and policy actions. He did not use his gift to fulfil the promises that he made with the simple evocative chant of “Yes, We can.” Yes, we can be eloquent and violate the laws of God in dishonouring the institution of God-instituted marriage and family. He violated many of the mandates of the Lord and denied Jesus in his inaction against radical extremism, his actions to isolate and weaken Israel, his support of extreme liberalism that went against the tenets of the Bible.

If we can practice the pause before speaking or reacting or responding to any stimuli, it will help us factor in the word of wisdom, knowledge and understanding in all our communications, actions and reactions. If we slow down, we will allow the Lord to catch up with us as we walk and talk as Jesus caught up with the two perturbed disciples on the road to Emmaus. We need to ask, “ Lord, what is it that You want me to say or do in this particular or specific situation?’ We not only need to ask this question but we should wait for the answer, no matter how short or long it takes.
Prateep V Philip