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| April 30, 2001 |
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| "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." Proverbs 15:1 The people who come to mind in this Proverb are Abigail and Nabal. There are several proverbs that apply to them. Abigail was the beautiful, lovely wife and woman. Nabal, her husband, was the fool but a very rich man. When Abigail heard that her husband had sent an insulting answer to David, who had in kindness and consideration taken care of his flocks, she hurriedly ordered the servants to gather a great deal of food for David. Then she went to meet David and fell on her face before him. She recognized him as the future king, and she spoke to him of the fact that his life was bound up in the bundle of life with God. She gave a soft answer, and it did turn away wrath. On the other hand, grievous words stir up anger, which certainly was true of the words of Nabal. You will notice many illustrations of this as you go through the Word of God. The Lord Jesus Himself used the strongest language in the entire Scriptures in His denunciation of the Pharisees in Matthew 23. There can be a proper time to "put it on the line," and Jesus certainly could do that! But also notice how gracious He was to those who needed the grace of God. He told the poor woman in sin, ". . . Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more" (John 8:11). What a gracious thing to say to her. We find illustrations of this again and again throughout the Word of God. There is a time for the very gracious answer ~ There is also a time when the answer needs to be strong. In either case, think before you speak and ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?" God Bless you as you remember, anger is removed by a gentle response, but a heated response fuels the flame. <J><E><S><U><S>< <S><A><V><E><S>< |