DRAWING FROM THE WELL

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.

Proverbs 20:5            

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

One thing comes with living life for the better part of 53 years now. You get to know people.

In fact, through my many years of Navy service, I had the privilege to meet and serve with thousands upon thousands of men and women, so many that I used to joke that I had a PhD when it came to dealing with people. Through that experience, you come to understand one thing very quickly. Not everyone is the same.

Indeed, everyone has their own quirks and personalities, their own likes and dislikes, their own comfort zones and places where they are afraid or uncomfortable. Couple this with the myriad of life experiences people go through and you can see how everyone comes out unique and distinct, something that I think is fascinating and exciting as we try to all get along within this creation that the Lord has planted us in.

As we deal with people, some are easy to know and read. They have no reservation about telling you how they are feeling. They never hesitate to display their emotions. They easily talk about what’s going on inside them and are always looking for outlets to do so. Spend any amount of time on Facebook and you can find these kind of people as their timeline posting is just an extension of their personality.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we find the polar opposite of the extrovert: the introvert.

By definition, introverts are quiet, shy and withdrawn. They tend to be quiet and unsociable, inhibited and reclusive. Introverts are extremely difficult to get to know. Unlike the highly sociable extroverts, introverts are often closed books that are hard to read. Their feelings and thoughts about life are often found deep within the well of their heart and mind, concealed under deep waters.

So how can one draw from the well of one who keeps to themselves? How do we, as we seek to carry out the Lord’s will to love and care for others, break through the barriers set up by introverted people to build relationships with them?

Our proverb today renders the answer for us.

The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out. Proverbs 20:5

God’s word tells us the key to drawing out the purposes of one’s heart is through insight, the place where we seek and receive understanding and awareness and discernment and awareness. Sometimes, this takes time but the one who seeks to love as the Lord loves will stay the course, unwilling to allow anyone to go uncared for, even when they are reserved by nature. Here are some qualities that a person who has insight will exhibit to open the doors to understand another:

1. They will exhibit patience.

People who are not comfortable in sharing with others are not going to open up immediately. They need to establish a comfort zone where they can feel comfortable sharing their deepest thoughts and feelings. The insightful person understands this and resists pushing the reclusive person away. They know when to pull back and allow the person to have their space but they also are not willing to give up and this leads to the second quality.

2. They will exhibit persistence.

The introvert would love for someone to just go away and leave them alone but deep inside they do crave being loved and cared for. Everyone does. And so the insightful person will not be willing to give up and will continue to love and care for the introverted, willing to stay the course with patience until the reserved person is ready to open up more.

3. They will exhibit love.

The main reason an insightful person exercises patience and an unwillingness to give up on someone is because they love them. It’s as plain and simple as that. The Lord never abandons or gives up on someone. Instead, He stays the course and never leaves us nor forsakes us, just as He promised. He doesn’t do this out of some sense of obligation. No, He does it because He loves us and we are to love others the same.

4. They will exhibit wisdom.

This should go without saying when we are talking about someone who is insightful but it’s important to connect the word “wisdom” to the matter of dealing with people. The wise person seems to have the knack of knowing how to interact with others, no matter their personality or temperament. They fall back on their wisdom to know the right things to do and say. They seem to be the go-to people for advice as well when others have trouble dealing with the people in their lives. In other words, people will notice how well the wise person gets along with others and will seek their counsel as they try to model the same prowess.

So what counsel would any wise person give?

If they are truly wise, they would give credit to the One who makes them wise, the One who is the source of their wisdom and insight. And that leads to the final quality of the insightful man or woman.

5. They will always gain their insight from the Lord.

No one is wise by their own merit. They are wise because they consistently seek the Lord for His guidance and direction. If you want to know how to draw water from the deep wells of someone’s heart and mind, you ask the One who designed the well, the Lord who holds the blueprint for all of us. He and He alone will always guide you to success and the end result is that you are able to have relationship and fellowship with anyone, no matter their disposition.

Friends, this is a blessed word of the Lord today as we enter into the world we live in. There is good news in that we can relate to anyone the Lord guides us to, not by way of our own work, but rather through His work in and through us as He grants us insight and allows us to draw water from the well of any heart, water that tastes of the love He has for His people, the love He desires for us to have for one another.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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