“What we've got here is... failure to communicate.” Most of us have heard the prison warden's line from the 1967 movie “Cool Hand Luke,” even if we've never watched the movie, or even knew its source. Without getting into the context it’s a great line because it describes the source of many problems in life – “failure to communicate.”

While sometimes one sided, more often than we would like to think, the fault rests with both sides of a conflict. One person says or does something without explanation and another reacts without understanding and suddenly there’s a fight.

Just before Joshua’s death there was an OT example of a “failure to communicate,” which shows us how communication failures can lead to disaster, and how to resolve communication problems. The first failure to communicate took place when the tribes settling on the east side of Jordan failed to tell the other tribes about a monument they built on the banks of the river (Joshua 22:9-10). The second communication problem arose when the tribes on the west side of the Jordan heard about it, immediately assumed the worst, and prepared to attack (Joshua 22:11-12).

How was the communication issue resolved? By communication! A delegation went to ask what the tribes on the east side were doing (Joshua 22:13-20). What a novel concept: asking for clarification! The question was heard and followed by a simple explanation that stopped the fight in its tracks. It wasn't a competing altar, but simply a monument to remind future generations of their common brotherhood (Joshua 22:21-29). In other words appearances were deceiving and assumptions were dangerous. As soon as they got the facts the delegation said “Oh, Okay” and went home. War was averted and God was glorified (Joshua 22:30-33).

But the whole uproar could have been avoided with better communication up front by those who built the monument, and by those who saw it, if they had asked instead of assumed before gathering for war. Good communication, among people of good will, will avoid the problems caused by the “failure to communicate”. So if you find yourself in a fight step back and ask first: Am I a person of good will? If not, then fix that first. Get the beam out of your own eye, then worry about the speck in your brother’s eye.