Consider the Source

One way I deal with criticism is with an angry shrug or sneer and a quip, "Consider the source!" This tactic is particularly effective against critics who can't do what I do, don't know what I know, or haven't walked where I've walked.

Like a critic of my public speaking technique who has no public speaking experience, or a critic of my children who has no children of their own, or a critic of my leadership skills who has never led anyone anywhere except their puppy outside to pee.

This tactic worked well until I read a story about a professor of military science and one of his ROTC officers in college. The young officer walked off the drill field where his marching platoon, "The Pershing Rifles," was given a low grade for their drill performance.

The judges were from another college and one of them was a short guy with thick glasses and an enormous belly. "I don't mind being judged as a poor performer," the young officer said to his professor. "But I resent the fact that one of the judges couldn't perform one of our drills if his life depended on it. When was the last time he saw his knees? What does a fat ass like that know about maneuvers?"

Consider the source!

The prof replied wisely, "A man doesn't have to be a butcher to know if a steak tastes good or not."

Ouch!

I miss God's corrective voice through the voice of my critic if I sluff it off with, "Consider the source." If I have any chance of learning from criticism, I have to look beyond the critic and see if God is speaking to me even through this ... annoying ... person.

King David lusted for another man's beautiful wife. He devised a plan to get her husband out of the way. Then he had sex with Bathsheba. David felt he had gotten away with it until Bathsheba sent him a message with those three little words a men never wants to hear from his mistress, "I am pregnant."

David devised another plan. He brought Bathsheba's soldier husband back from battle and encouraged him to spend time with his wife. The valiant soldier refused. Instead, he slept outside the palace. So, David ordered him sent back to the fight, this time to the front lines. As planned, Uriah was killed in action.

After a time of mourning, David brought Bathsheba into his palace. She became his wife and bore him a son. Again, David felt he had gotten away with it.

Then an annoying prophet showed up. Shaking his long finger in the King's face, the prophet Nathan declared David guilty of adultery and murder. God said, "I'll make trouble for you out of your own family. I'll take your wives from right out in front of you. I'll give them to some neighbor, and he'll go to bed with them openly. You did your deed in secret; I'm doing mine with the whole country watching" 2 Samuel 12.

No angry shrug or sneer. David humbled himself, looked beyond his critic, and heard the voice of God. David confessed, "I have sinned against God." Months later, he wrote Psalm 51, the greatest example of personal repentance ever written.

The next time you're criticized, no matter how small the issue or how annoying the critic, do what David did. Look beyond the critic, see if God is saying something to you. When I do this I move from an angry flash-point of self-justification to a humbling insight of penitent recovery.

Consider the Source!