Seeing Clearly

Proverbs 19:11 Experience makes you more patient, and you are most patient when you ignore insults.

Insults are a fact of life. And when we’re the one on the receiving end … man, they smart, they hurt, don’t they? And something inside us makes us want to get even. But that, right there, is a dangerous place.

Depending on your personality type, one way of getting even is lashing out. Perhaps you do it on the spot, or like the devil, you wait for a more opportune time when you can exact maximum revenge.

Others simply withdraw into their shell, ruminating over the hurt, becoming bitter and twisted, entering into passive-aggressive behaviour.

Either way, when you harbour that sort of anger in your heart, you’re in a very dangerous place because you’re not seeing things clearly. Have you ever noticed how you can’t see your reflection in boiling water? In the same way, you can’t see the truth in a state of anger. It’s only when the water’s calm, that clarity comes. That’s why acting in anger is such a dangerous ploy.

Proverbs 9:11 Experience makes you more patient, and you are most patient when you ignore insults.

What God’s saying here is that with experience we can become more patient in the face of insults. Now, He’s not talking here about the sort of patience involved in planning your revenge. Neither is it about being a doormat, about playing the victim.

Nope. This is a godly patience. And the more we walk in God’s wisdom – difficult though it can be some days – the stronger we become. And the stronger we become, the more easily we can ignore insults altogether. Here it is again. Let the Holy Spirit write it on your heart.

Experience makes you more patient, and you are most patient when you ignore insults.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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