Misunderstandings sometimes happen because the people having the conversation are not on the same page. Here’s an example: A grandmother was having coffee with her granddaughter. She asked the granddaughter if she had a newspaper. “Oh no”, said the granddaughter “we use the iPad these days”. That fly never knew what hit him!

Obviously, what the grandmother wanted the newspaper for and what the granddaughter thought she wanted it for, were two completely different things. That misunderstanding may have been really costly, resulting in a broken iPad. How many years of strife come from such misunderstandings? We meant and said what was on our mind but the person listening heard something else, hence, a major misunderstanding in the making.

Farmer Evans was driving his tractor along the road with a load of fertilizer. A young boy was playing in his yard when he saw the farmer and asked, “What do you have in your trailer?” ''Manure,” the farmer replied. “What are you going to do with it?” asked the boy. “Putting it on my strawberries,” answered the farmer. The boy replied, “You ought to come and eat with us, we put ice cream on our strawberries…” just another example of two people not understanding each other. It was an innocent and quick response from the boy. After all, who wants manure on their strawberries?

We need to really stop, listen and at times ask for clarification when someone is speaking to us. So many hurts and offenses could be avoided, sometimes even years of strife over something that was never said, all because we heard only what we wanted to hear and not what they really meant. The same is true when we read God’s Word. We need to pray before we read, and make sure we see and understand what God’s Word says, not a preconceived idea of what we think God is saying.

 
“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word,” (John 8:43 NASB).