11 A person’s wisdom yields/gives them patience;
it is TO ONE’S GLORY TO OVERLOOK AN OFFENCE.
19 A hot-tempered person MUST PAY THE PENALTY;
rescue them, and you will have to do it again. Proverbs 19
I was struck this morning when reading Proverbs 19:19, by the fact that there’s often A COST ASSOCIATED WITH LOSS OF TEMPER! We may get brief satisfaction when we ‘blow our stacks’ or ‘loose our cool’ but the Bible says that there’s a COST TO BE PAID FOR GIVING WAY TO TEMPER. Anger may be instinctive, happens without much thought, but ‘Wisdom gives us Patience’; we can learn to control our volatility and refuse to erupt when facing frustrations. Anger may come with a Huge Cost, in relationships, job advancement, or whatever, but there is GLORY (High renown and Honour) in the ‘Capacity to overlook an offence’.
17 A quick-tempered person does foolish things, …
29 Whoever is patient has great understanding,
but one who is quick-tempered displays folly. Proverbs 14
11 Fools give full vent to their rage,
but the wise keep themselves under control. Proverbs 29
An example of an honourable man who almost lost out greatly by taking offence at a man of God was Naaman, the revered army commander, but he suffered from leprosy.
11 But Naaman WENT AWAY ANGRY and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and WENT OFF IN A RAGE. 2 Kings 5
Elisha told Naaman how to receive his healing, ‘Go, wash seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed’, but Naaman, a powerful man, was angry because he didn’t get his own way. In short he was snubbed, treated without respect and he became angry. He was saved from losing his healing and probable disaster by his own servants.
13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 SO HE WENT DOWN and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
Naaman had to GO DOWN, HUMBLE HIMSELF in order to receive his healing. GOD WILL ARRANGE SITUATIONS AND CIRCUMSTANCES when we have to humble ourselves/our flesh in order to receive the answers we seek. The Lord humbled Himself when he came to this earth and we had better be prepared to do the same. Things may not always go the way we think, but God will bring us through as we submit to Him.
May God bless and keep you today.