Thursday; February 15
The other day I was reading through Proverbs and found this gem, “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.” (Proverbs 15:28). As I reflected on this observation a couple things came to mind. First, haste makes waste. In other words, there is wisdom in a slow response to whatever we encounter – especially when the situation is adversarial. By carefully choosing our words, we can help keep emotions from spiritually out of control – both ours and theirs. In contrast, when we allow our emotional responses go unchecked a lot of bad things can happen. When we react without restraint we are apt to make things worse. As I thought about this, I was reminded of more words of wisdom, these attributed to James, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19-20). Let’s take the time to hear people