Are some not ready to hear you?
Jesus faced this too.
So instead, he said to friends:
“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now.—John 16:12 (The Message)
Timing, listening, patience may matter.
Later, Paul of Tarsus writes,
God’s servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, 25 working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, 26 enabling them to escape the Devil’s trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.—2 Timothy 2:24–26 (The Message)
Sometimes silence is golden. Sometimes it’s yellow.
LORD, Our Shepherd, thank you that you restore (Hebrew SHUV: repent, return, renew, restore) and lead us.
God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. 2 You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. 3 True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.—Psalm 23:1–3 (The Message)
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P.S. Here’s another passage about communication readiness, that just came along.
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.—Hebrews 5:11–14 (ESV)
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“Sometimes silence is golden. Sometimes it’s yellow.”
So true! An oh0-so-important area of life where we need lots of grace and wisdom; sometimes restraint and patience and sometimes courage and boldness.