Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed. – 1 Samuel 2:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 24, 2012): 1 Samuel 2

Every once in a while I have an uncomfortable conversation with someone and the main question is this – do you know that you are being lied to? And often the accusation is regarding one of my key leaders that I have invited to share ministry with me. Now, in answer to the question, I probably do not realize when people are lying to me. I really want to trust the people that are around me – in fact, I need to be able to trust them. If I cannot trust someone, then it is really hard to have them as part of my team. But when I have these conversations, there is also part of me that questions the truth of the statement. The question is not because I think the one bringing the accusation is lying to me, but rather because sometimes I know that members of my team struggle to find the right words to match their thoughts. And, sometimes, they make the wrong word choice. I have become great at interpreting tongues, because when they talk to me I know that they do not mean what they say. But I try hard to hear their hearts Culture has taught them a speech pattern that just does not work. And often the problem is that they are speaking beyond their knowledge. (All of this is why some people accuse me of being a Pollyanna.)

One of the offending phrases is the simple words “I know.” There are a couple of reasons why I feel that we need to stop using the phrase. First, the phrase “I know” shuts down the conversation. There is nothing to say after someone says that they know something without calling the person a liar. And, second, we use the phrase too often when we are only guessing at the answer. I am aware that there are times when people have told me that they “know” something, but they were mistaken - they did not know. I get that our self image is quite often tied up with the things that we know, but when we use the phrase and we are wrong, we have shut down a conversation that actually needed to continue. And we have lied, even though we maybe did not mean to. And our standards simply need to be higher than to allow that to happen. 

As Hannah responds to God, she starts off with a warning to the proud. This might have been directed toward the people who had doubted God’s ability to give her a child – and you can almost hear the accusation in her words; you said that you knew, but you were wrong. She continues on to call God the God Who Knows. We may not know, but God does. Our knowledge is often relative, but God’s is absolute. Her connection of knowledge with deeds might also indicate that some had connected her inability to have a child with sin in her life. But God knew her deeds. And in the end, his is the only knowledge that matters.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 3