Communication breakdown
It’s always the same
I’m having a nervous breakdown
Drive me insane!… Led Zeppelin
After Joshua’s death, (approximately 1380 B.C.), and the death of his generation, the Israelites fell away from God:
After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel…They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the LORD. Judg. 2:10 & 12. NLT
You might recall that God previously told His children that if they did not walk in His word, they would be cursed (Dt. 11:28). God keeps all of His promises. So, Jehovah removed His favor and protection from the Israelites. Subsequently, they began to suffer continual military defeat with ensuing oppression, at the hands of their foes.
All of this happened because the people created a communication breakdown between them and God, by turning their backs on Him, and steeping themselves in unrepentant and unending sinful behavior.
During their oppression however, the Israelite’s ‘fair weather faith’ kicks in, and they cry out to God for deliverance. In spite of their well-deserved divine judgment, God is merciful.
When they were brought to their knees, they would repent, and God would imbue certain individuals with His Spirit, who, were then called ‘judges.’ With God’s help, they would lead the Israelites out of captivity.
This would become a pitiable cycle that would repeat for more than 300 years:
Whenever the LORD raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime. For the LORD took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering.
But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who lived before them…So the LORD burned with anger against Israel. Judg. 2:18 – 20. NLT
The most famous of these ‘judges’ were Deborah, Gideon and Samson. Let’s delve into the life of Samson, because he is such a great example of communication breakdown.
There was a childless couple from the tribe of Dan, who were approached by the ‘Angel of the LORD,’ [thought by many biblical scholars to be the pre-incarnate Christ– especially because He allowed Himself to be worshiped (Josh. 5:13 – 15.)].
He told them that they would have a son who would be dedicated to God as a Nazirite* his entire life. *(One who takes a vow to consecrate themselves to Jehovah, refraining from alcohol, cutting the hair, or going near a dead body).
Their son, Samson, was born; and as he grew up, God began to empower him to be a judge who would deliver the Israelites from their present-time oppressor, the Philistines. However, when he reached adulthood, he disobeyed his parents (and broke the Mosaic Law) by marrying a Philistine woman.
Samson approached some of the Philistine guests at his wedding and told them that if they could solve one of his riddles, he would give them a prize.
They approached Samson’s wife in secret and badgered her to get the answer from her husband, which she did. Samson, knowing this, was angered, and killed 30 Philistine men and set fire to their fields of grain, their vineyards, and their olive groves.
Then he killed 1000 Philistine soldiers single-handedly. Subsequently, he became a judge of Israel and held that title for 20 years.
He then married a second Philistine wife, Delilah, who agreed to receive a bribe for revealing Samson’s source of strength. He, suspecting something was afoul, lied to her twice; but because she pestered him continuously, finally revealed that it was tied to his hair.
She subsequently had his hair cut off while he slept.
When he lost all of his supernatural strength, the Philistines attacked him, plucked out his eyes, and imprisoned him.
But they weren’t paying attention; his hair began to grow back. They chained Samson to the pillars of the temple, wherein there were 3000 people watching him, hoping to make sport of him.
Instead, Samson pleaded with God to restore his full strength, in order to kill these people in revenge – knowing that he would die as well. God granted his wish, and Samson pulled the temple down upon itself. In his death, he delivered the Israelites…
I picked Samson to depict the degree of corruption displayed by the Israelites, and by Samson, in both deed and word, as a result of wallowing in the ways of the world – the results of having a communication breakdown with God.
How does this affect us today? Our words reflect the state of our inner self.
When you were born, you communicated perfectly. Your coos and cries brought you joy, love, and immediate attention from your parents. Yet, as we have been observing, (see A Devilish Indoctrination, and read all the posts in sequence from there), the growing-up process is replete with hazards of darkness.
After the generations-old worldly conditioning was inculcated in you by your parents, peers, schools, government and the media, your ability to healthily and effectively relate was squelched. Communication breakdown sets in.
Yours isn’t a solitary problem. Most people are afflicted similarly. There is no communication because everyone is engaged in only sharing their illusory ‘Life Stories,’ through the filters of their false self-image. Thus, there is no exchange of reality, no truth. God only works with truth:
“Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Jn. 18:37 NKJV
We learned as children that if we (innocently) told the truth, and our parents didn’t particularly want to hear that truth, we got punished. So, like our parents as well, we learned to edit portions of the truth (i.e. to lie), and to speak no more of those excised parts – so as to avoid additional chastisement.
As this communication style becomes entrenched, we will have accepted lies about ourselves, others and life itself. Those lies constitute our new ‘truth,’ which differs from everyone else’s new truth. Thus, we share no common viewpoint from which to communicate.
Combine that with our obsession to be engrossed in a never-ending conversation with that voice in our heads, and eventually we find ourselves incommunicado. Yet, we viciously cling to our viewpoint, because we have structured our lives around them:
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator… Rm. 1:25 NLT
Is not your false self-image a created thing? It is what you pour all your energy and attention into, to seek the acceptance of other people rather than God.
Moreover, if you are living a lie and unable to effectively communicate, you are unconsciously punishing yourself, as well as bringing a divine rebuke upon you.
Given the seemingly insurmountable barriers that many people create within themselves, most will consequently withdraw from relating – trading communication for isolation, caused by their own prejudices, and by projecting their own self-imagined faults upon others.
What passes for their ‘communication style’ is an action / reaction exchange: speaking behind walls of defense, always on the lookout for some potential trigger that might open an old wound.
While in this mode, they are unable to listen, because they are focused on maintaining their false self-image that their ego has convinced them they need to be accepted.
So, your focus lies solely upon yourself in any conversation with other people, impatiently waiting for them to shut up, so that you can foist ‘your truth’ upon them.
Your need to be ‘right’ keeps you from learning anything new. Thus, you cannot outgrow your past.
You know when you are in this mode, when you hear that voice in your head say, ‘I’ve heard all this before.’
Also, you can only be ‘right’ if you make someone else ‘wrong.’ You make enemies and live a solitary life. In addition, where there is a communication breakdown, there is no love…
For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is fulfilled in the one precept, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit.]” Gal. 5:14 AMP
Just in case you are new to this blog, I am going to give a brief summation of the characteristics leading to communication breakdown, and to the ultimate outcome: the inability to have a healthy relationship with God, yourself, or others.
- If you are trapped in the past, you cannot live in the present moment, which is the only moment where communication and relationship exists.
- If you see others as a threat, or you are afraid that they might find out some horrible secret that you think you must keep hidden, you will isolate yourself from relationship.
- If you run around like some angry ogre, trying to prevent others from ‘hurting’ you, you will drive them away.
- If you only present your false self-image to others, no one gets to meet the real you.
- And, as we have seen today, if you cannot communicate from any place other than your own agenda, no meaningful exchange can take place.
All of this is a result of not seeking God, or because you are trying to run away from Him – both of which deprive you of His peace and love. Nothing makes the devil happier…
I know that this was hardly uplifting, but we must be aware of the enemy’s strategies. I would like to get into the solution, but that would make this blogpost way too long.
Next time…
Goodnight and God bless.