1
00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:13,360
Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily

2
00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:17,160
Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day

3
00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:19,319
Speaker 1: to learn more about God and as well for us.

4
00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,799
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Carol McCracken, and after a short word

5
00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:27,120
Speaker 1: from our sponsor, we'll dive into today's Bible versus Ecclesiastes

6
00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:42,080
Speaker 1: seven twenty one through twenty two. Today's Bible verses are

7
00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,400
Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes seven twenty one twenty two. Do not pay attention

8
00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,080
Speaker 1: to every word people say, or you may hear your

9
00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:52,239
Speaker 1: servant cursing you, for you know in your heart that

10
00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:57,040
Speaker 1: many times you yourself have cursed others for the moment.

11
00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,800
Speaker 1: I'm living in an apartment and I've learned something very

12
00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:05,360
Speaker 1: quickly about apartment life. Balconies echo. If somebody's outside talking,

13
00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:09,200
Speaker 1: everybody hears everybody's business, whether they mean to or not.

14
00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,240
Speaker 1: Conversations bounce around the courtyard like surround sound. You end

15
00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:18,640
Speaker 1: up unintentionally knowing who's arguing with their boyfriend, whose Amazon

16
00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:23,040
Speaker 1: package is delayed, and who thinks fair coworker is incompetent.

17
00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:26,520
Speaker 1: I'm more private by nature, so honestly, it's been a

18
00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,679
Speaker 1: little bit of an adjustment for me. One morning I

19
00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,080
Speaker 1: took my dog Moses out for a walk, and the

20
00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,560
Speaker 1: minute I stepped outside, I heard singing echoing across the balconies.

21
00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:41,200
Speaker 1: Not quiet humming either, full on singing, the kind where

22
00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,160
Speaker 1: the person clearly isn't worried about whether anybody else can

23
00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,400
Speaker 1: hear them. I looked up and saw my neighbors sitting

24
00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,279
Speaker 1: on our balcony and pajamas, hair wrapped up, coffee in hand,

25
00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:56,080
Speaker 1: singing at the top of her lungs, and I immediately

26
00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,800
Speaker 1: got annoyed. Not my finest spiritual moment. In my mind,

27
00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:03,840
Speaker 1: I had already decided she was being inconsiderate before I

28
00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,360
Speaker 1: even fully registered what she was singing. I remember thinking,

29
00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,000
Speaker 1: and does the entire apartment complex really need a concert

30
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,840
Speaker 1: this early in the morning. But then as I came

31
00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,600
Speaker 1: back from walking the dog, I started recognizing the tune.

32
00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,560
Speaker 1: It was worship music. She wasn't putting on a performance,

33
00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,680
Speaker 1: she wasn't trying to get attention. She was simply sitting

34
00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,680
Speaker 1: out there worshiping Jesus while the sun came up. And

35
00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,440
Speaker 1: I felt instantly convicted, because the truth was I had

36
00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,519
Speaker 1: gone from hearing a sound to making a judgment about

37
00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:41,320
Speaker 1: somebody's character in about fifteen seconds flat. That's one reason

38
00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,400
Speaker 1: I love the honesty of Ecclesiastes. It doesn't pretend people

39
00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:51,280
Speaker 1: are always noble or spiritually mature. Traditionally associated with Solomon,

40
00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:55,080
Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes is part of the Bible's widom literature, and it

41
00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:59,120
Speaker 1: deals with real human behavior in such an unfiltered way.

42
00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,720
Speaker 1: The writer unders stands how easily people can irritate each other,

43
00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:05,680
Speaker 1: and how quickly we can become critical. We aren't careful,

44
00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,639
Speaker 1: And this verse is surprisingly practical. Do not pay attention

45
00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,840
Speaker 1: to every word people say. In other words, if you

46
00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:18,760
Speaker 1: analyze every irritating thing people do, every common thing, make

47
00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,200
Speaker 1: every personality quirk they have, you're gonna spend your entire

48
00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:27,440
Speaker 1: life offended. Then comes the humbling part, for you know

49
00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,120
Speaker 1: in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.

50
00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,240
Speaker 1: That's the verse it gets me. Before you become too

51
00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,200
Speaker 1: aggravated by somebody else's behavior, remember your own humanity, remember

52
00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:45,640
Speaker 1: your own careless moments, your own irritating habits, your own

53
00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:51,160
Speaker 1: bad attitudes, your own times of saying something unkind or

54
00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,600
Speaker 1: making assumptions about somebody else. That morning on the balcony,

55
00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,880
Speaker 1: I was an exercising spiritual discernment. I was just being judged,

56
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,280
Speaker 1: And if I'm honest, I think many of us do

57
00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:07,200
Speaker 1: this more than we realize. We can build entire narratives

58
00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:11,640
Speaker 1: about people in our head after one interaction. Somebody seems loud,

59
00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:15,600
Speaker 1: so we assume their attention seeking. Somebody's quiet, so we

60
00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:20,200
Speaker 1: assume they're cold. Somebody's emotional, so we assume they're immature.

61
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,920
Speaker 1: We fill in gaps with assumptions all the time, but

62
00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,520
Speaker 1: maturity in Christ means learning to leave room for grace

63
00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:32,840
Speaker 1: instead of rushing to conclusions. What struck me later was

64
00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,880
Speaker 1: that a neighbor's worship only bothered me before I understood

65
00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,880
Speaker 1: what it was. Once I realized she was singing praise music,

66
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:45,040
Speaker 1: my entire perspective changed. It was the same balcony voice

67
00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:50,799
Speaker 1: and volume. The only thing that changed was my understanding. Honestly,

68
00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:53,320
Speaker 1: that realization stayed with me the rest of the day

69
00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:56,839
Speaker 1: because I started wondering how often I misunderstand people simply

70
00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:59,680
Speaker 1: because I don't know the full story yet. Maybe the

71
00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:03,760
Speaker 1: person who seems abrasive as caring grief, or the exhausted

72
00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,920
Speaker 1: moms snapping at our kids hasn't slept well in weeks.

73
00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,159
Speaker 1: Maybe the person who talks too much is lonely, or

74
00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,400
Speaker 1: even the neighbors singing on our balcony is just deeply

75
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:19,800
Speaker 1: grateful that God carried her through another difficult season. Ecclesiastes

76
00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:24,120
Speaker 1: reminds us that wisdom is not found in scrutinizing everybody else.

77
00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:29,160
Speaker 1: Wisdom begins with humility. It begins with recognizing that we

78
00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:33,200
Speaker 1: too need grace constantly, and that changes the way we

79
00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:37,159
Speaker 1: respond to people. It softens us and slows us down.

80
00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,320
Speaker 1: It makes us less eager to assign motives and more

81
00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,000
Speaker 1: willing to extend mercy. The older I get, the more

82
00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,280
Speaker 1: I realize that peace often comes from choosing not to

83
00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:53,800
Speaker 1: magnify every irritation around us. Not every annoyance deserves our

84
00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:59,919
Speaker 1: emotional energy, not every personality difference is a character Flawi.

85
00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,800
Speaker 1: People are simply different from us, and sometimes God's doing

86
00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:07,240
Speaker 1: something beautiful in them that we can't yet see. That

87
00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,359
Speaker 1: neighbor probably has no idea she became part of my

88
00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,719
Speaker 1: sanctification that morning, But she did because while I was

89
00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,760
Speaker 1: busy being irritated about noise echoing across the apartment complex,

90
00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,760
Speaker 1: she was out there worshiping the Lord with her coffee

91
00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:27,600
Speaker 1: cup in hand, completely unconcerned about appearances, and honestly, I

92
00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,000
Speaker 1: think Jesus probably loved hearing it echo through the balconies.

93
00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:34,599
Speaker 1: If you haven't already done so, and you've had a

94
00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,120
Speaker 1: moment to think, I encourage you to subscribe to your

95
00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,320
Speaker 1: daily Bible versa. You never miss an episode, and if

96
00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:43,680
Speaker 1: today's episode encouraged you, would you share it with a

97
00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:48,520
Speaker 1: friend until next time. May God give us wisdom that's

98
00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:53,599
Speaker 1: slower to criticize, quicker to extend grace, and humble enough

99
00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:59,080
Speaker 1: to remember how much grace we ourselves have received. Will

100
00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:03,520
Speaker 1: you pray with me, Dear Lord and Heaven. I was

101
00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,360
Speaker 1: convicted that day, and I think you were glad because

102
00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:10,240
Speaker 1: it made me closer to you. Lord. Thank you for

103
00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,600
Speaker 1: slowing me down enough to hear the words of the song.

104
00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:18,320
Speaker 1: Thank you for slowing me down enough to realize that

105
00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,680
Speaker 1: there's more than a fifteen second judgment for the very

106
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:28,320
Speaker 1: image of the person that you created. Lord, There's many,

107
00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,960
Speaker 1: many times you have extended me grace. And Lord, though

108
00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:38,200
Speaker 1: I didn't particularly like feeling bad, you taught me a lesson,

109
00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:42,320
Speaker 1: a lesson for me to remember, a lesson to remind

110
00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:44,680
Speaker 1: me not to get stuck in the day to day

111
00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,640
Speaker 1: of the ponderings of my head. Lord, I hope you

112
00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:53,360
Speaker 1: take this story and extend it my conviction and help

113
00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:57,200
Speaker 1: me work on my humility and slowing me down.

114
00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,600
Speaker 2: And Lord, thank you for ect tending to grace, in

115
00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,080
Speaker 2: extending grace rather to every listener within the sound of

116
00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,480
Speaker 2: my voice, because you love them and your precious name.

117
00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:09,840
Speaker 1: We pray Ahmed