A Soft Answer

Reading For Today: Proverb Chapter 15

Gold Nugget

Verse 1: “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Commentary

Today’s verse turns up many times in Proverbs. This book of wisdom uses the old teaching method of repetitious exposure. The importance of learning and applying this lesson is worth revisiting. I’ll make mention of my middle daughter today as an example. Stephanie is a very meek and gentle person. Despite accusations, I do realize she isn’t perfect. My daughters have different character traits. My oldest, Amanda, is very artistic, our other middle, Courtney is like her mother and my youngest, Sierra, is most like me. Concerning Stephanie’s gentleness, people have often said that if you can’t get along with her, you need to find out what your own problem is. Her meekness has been an issue when playing her favorite sport, basketball. As talented as she is, she’s had to go against her nature to be aggressive. She has managed it some. I remember a game where that was put to the test. The young lady on the opposing team had the difficult task of having to try and cover her and was guarding Steph in a very aggressive and physical manner beyond what was appropriate. When the referee wasn’t looking, she would push and even hit Steph. It really got out of hand and Steph actually pushed back at one point. Evidently at the wrong point. The referee saw that one push by Stephanie and called a penalty. After that, Steph decided that she wasn’t going to play to that level. She just started being very nice to the young lady. Although they were still very aggressive, the other girl recognized Steph’s obvious efforts to treat her with respect and changed her behavior.  Gentleness is hard to resist and spurs a gentle reaction. As today’s “gold nugget” says, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Well, what do you know? The truth of God’s word is just as true and applicable as it’s ever been. Maybe we need to remember that today. We may be put in a position where a soft answer may be difficult to muster, but see how difficult it will be for them to resist it if you can manage to provide it.

Prayer

Lord, again your Word is reminding us of how we should reflect your image. Help us today to have the strength to be humble and enough love to be gentle. Amen

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