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Wise People Ask Questions and Then Listen - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - September 6, 2016

Wise People Ask Questions and Then Listen
By Rick Warren

“People’s thoughts can be like a deep well, but someone with understanding can find the wisdom there” (Proverbs 20:5 NCV).

If you want to be wise, you’re going to have to learn how to ask wise questions.

Proverbs 20:5 says, “People’s thoughts can be like a deep well, but someone with understanding can find the wisdom there” (NCV). In other words, everybody’s got something to teach you. It’s like deep water in a well, and you’ve got to draw it out of them.

How do you draw the wisdom out of every person? By learning to ask smart questions.

As I’ve traveled around the world, I’ve asked questions of taxi cab drivers and prime ministers, and they’ve both taught me. You can learn from anybody if you know the right questions to ask!

One of the things I’ve learned is that I have never learned anything while I’m talking. If my mouth is moving, I’m not learning. You don’t learn when you’re talking. You learn when you’re listening. So you’ve got to learn to listen.

I’ve done an awful lot of interviews over the years, and I’ve noticed that the interview shows have changed. They’re no longer about the guest. They’re about the interviewer. The whole goal of the interviewer is to draw attention to himself.

I long for the old Larry King days. I didn’t always agree with Larry King, but I liked that he would ask a question and then let you talk. He realized that people weren’t going to listen to Larry King. They tuned in to listen to all the fascinating guests that he had and learn from them.

Larry King once said that in an interview show, if the host is talking 50 percent of the time, something is terribly wrong. The host should listen the most and talk the least. A good TV host sets up the question and then just listens.

You can learn from anybody, but you’ve got to be willing to ask questions and then listen. That’s the mark of a wise man or woman.

Playtoday’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>

Talk It Over

  • Try to spend a whole day focusing on listening rather than talking. What difference does it make?
  • What do you communicate to someone when you ask him or her a question and then listen to the answer with focus and interest?
  • What would be an example of wise question?

For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!


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Daily Inspiration for The Purpose Driven Life - Gift Edition

Would you like to help your friends and family live the Purpose Driven Life? One of the best ways to stay focused on God’s plan is to stay in God’s Word, and Pastor Rick Warren has an effective resource that will enable YOU to quickly find Bible verses that are indispensible for living a life of purpose.

We call this resource Daily Inspiration for The Purpose Driven Life. In it, Pastor Rick has taken all the key verses that explain how God created each of us for five purposes and put them into an easy-to-use reference tool that will help anyone study and memorize God’s Word.

When you give a gift to support Daily Hope this month we’ll send you a copy of this beautiful book… and if you choose to make your donation a monthly donation, we’ll send you a special signed copy of Daily Inspiration for The Purpose Driven Life to thank you for joining our Partner in Hope team by giving a scheduled gift each month to support Daily Hope.

Thanks for supporting Daily Hope. Your generosity helps us to teach others about God’s plan for their lives — and, thanks to you, we’re taking that message all across the world.  

This devotional © 2016 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

You can also listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.