Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 396 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

A Gentle Answer Deflects Anger – Proverbs 15:1-17

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 396 of our trek, and today is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday along life’s trail, we dig for the nuggets of wisdom that are found within the book of Proverbs. Today we will explore the first half of Chapter 15.

We are broadcasting from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. After a week in North Carolina, we are heading back to Marietta today and will be staying until Sunday evening to work with clients and celebrate our granddaughter Aurora’s 5^th birthday. Late Sunday we will return for about 10 days before heading out to Arizona to invest some time with our friends and partners the Mecoms on our construction project in Mesa.

This past Saturday we had a wonderful time with Josphat and Emily Yego, who are Chelimo’s parents. Sharing time and meals with them and discussing plans for their leadership institute in Kenya was very enjoyable. We hope to visit them in Kenya sometime within the next couple of years. Of course, the highlight for all of us is investing time in our mutual grandson Kiprono.

To navigate all of these future plans that God has for us will certainly take wisdom and insight, and there is no better place in the world than the Book of Wisdom, which is Proverbs, to gather that wisdom. On our trek for today, we will dig into the first 17 verses of chapter 15. The title for today’s trek is taken from verse 1, and it is…

A Gentle Answer Deflects Anger

¹ A gentle answer deflects anger,
but harsh words make tempers flare.

There are many exhortations within Scripture about controlling your speech. One of the best ways to avoid or minimize a potentially volatile situation is to respond with gentleness. It is very difficult for an argument to last when it is one sided. The best way to respond is with a gentle answer, which will usually diffuse the situation.  If you respond with harshness, then it will create an ugly situation where nothing is truly settled or accomplished.

One commitment I had made to Paula before we were married is that I would not argue with her and that if we had any differences of opinion, we would work through them rationally and with prayer. After nearly 37 years of marriage, I can testify that this practice has worked extremely well for us.

² The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing,
but the mouth of a fool belches out foolishness.

It is so refreshing to be in the presence of a wise person. When they speak, it is usually limited, but very insightful and powerful.  Their speech is full of knowledge and without pretense. On the other hand, when you are in the company of a fool, it is evident that they are just spewing verbal garbage, and time spent with them has little redeeming value. Choose wisdom over foolishness.

³ The Lord is watching everywhere,
keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.

God knows all things, and he even understands the thoughts and intents of our minds. A person who believes that he can hide or get away with that which is contrary to God’s precepts is only fooling himself. Be good and Godly.

⁴ Gentle words are a tree of life;
a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.

Similar to verse 1, our speech should always be gentle and helpful. When you are kind and helpful, then your words will bring healing and hope to those who listen to your wise and gentle words. If you are hurtful or deceptive in your speech, you will end up hurting those who hear it, and it will bring damage to them. Another unfortunate result is that it will also hurt the person who speaks in this manner.

⁵ Only a fool despises a parent’s discipline;
whoever learns from correction is wise.

A person who ignores or hates the discipline, which means to disciple or teach, of their parents, or any wise mentors, is only hurting himself, and will continue to make foolish choices and decisions. Contrary to this is that a person who welcomes and learns from wise correction will, in turn, become wise.

⁶ There is treasure in the house of the godly,
but the earnings of the wicked bring trouble.

If you remain good and Godly, your home will be filled with riches and treasures that no money can buy. There will be an unlimited amount of love, kindness, and wisdom that will direct the course of your life. A person who chooses not to follow God’s precepts, even if they earn riches, will have a home full of problems and trouble.

⁷ The lips of the wise give good advice;
the heart of a fool has none to give.

What comes out of our mouth is a by-product of what we allow to go into our minds. What we plant in our minds will produce the same kind of crop. This will be evidenced by what comes out of our mouth. If you plant wisdom, then you will harvest and speak wisdom and good advice. If you plant foolishness and evil, then you will produce the weeds of foolishness and will have no redeeming value to those who listen.

⁸ The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked,
but he delights in the prayers of the upright.

God is not interested in our outward showing of being religious. He is only interested our heart and deeds of service based on the proper motives of our heart. God is a personal God and wants to communicate with us through His Word, and for us to communicate to Him through prayer. External religious trappings are not what God desires, but a heart that loves Him and others is.

⁹ The Lord detests the way of the wicked,
but he loves those who pursue godliness.

Continuing the thoughts from the previous verse, God desires all His children to pursue godliness which means knowing and following the precepts of His Word. Those who refuse to follow those precepts are an affront to God as He desires our fellowship with Him.

¹⁰ Whoever abandons the right path will be severely disciplined;
whoever hates correction will die.

It is not a trivial thing to choose a different path for your life than following God. Since God is the creator of all, He has set certain rules that we are to follow. These are for our own good because He loves us. When we choose a different path, we will fall outside of God’s guidelines and bring harm on ourselves in many different ways. If we choose to continue down this path, it will eventually result in death to us.

¹¹ Even Death and Destruction hold no secrets from the Lord.
How much more does he know the human heart!

God knows the beginning to the end of all things in time and space. Death and destruction never surprise Him since it is permitted by Him as a result of mankind’s general disobedience. If He knows all things, He knows that thoughts and intents of our mind and heart in all that we do.

¹² Mockers hate to be corrected,
so they stay away from the wise.

A person who is foolish, and chooses not to follow God’s precepts does not want to hear that he is wrong. He is so adamant about this that he will avoid those who are wise so that he is not confronted with mockery.

¹³ A glad heart makes a happy face;
a broken heart crushes the spirit.

You can tell when someone is glad and truly joyful internally because their face will reflect the person’s happy heart. The opposite of that is a person who is struggling with real hardships that permeate his very heart.  Even if he puts on a smile, it will be evident that he is dealing with a crushed spirit.

¹⁴ A wise person is hungry for knowledge,
while the fool feeds on trash.

This is such a recurring theme, not only in Proverbs but in all of life.  Who we are or become is controlled primarily by two related factors.  Who we invest time with and what we allow going into our minds.  If you desire to be wise, you will invest time with wise people and absorb wise information. If you allow trash to fill your mind, then you become more and more foolish.

¹⁵ For the despondent, every day brings trouble;
for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.

I refer to this as the Eeyore effect taken from the Winnie the Pooh character. Unless there is a physical reason for it, most of the time despondency is controlled by what we allow entering into our minds. When you get sucked into that mindset, then every day finds hardships and problems because subconsciously you are looking for it and expecting life to be hard. If you change your mind through the reading of God’s Word on a daily basis, you will find that your heart begins to become joyful and happy. When this happens, then life will be much better because that is what you are anticipating.

¹⁶ Better to have little, with fear for the Lord,
than to have great treasure and inner turmoil.

Wealth and material items will never bring happiness and joy. You can have everything that money can buy and still be full of turmoil. You will never have enough, and the pursuit of more brings more turmoil. If you find your contentment and peace in God, then you will have all that you need.

¹⁷ A bowl of vegetables with someone you love
is better than steak with someone you hate.

Most everyone loves a good steak or some other great meal, but if you have to share it with someone that you don’t like or who doesn’t like you, it loses its enjoyment. It is much better to have a meager meal of just vegetables with someone you love. The enjoyment of the meal is largely dependent on who you are sharing it with.

Today’s trail was once again filled with so many nuggets of wisdom. We learned the importance of using gentle words when speaking to others. We also learned the importance of what we allow feeding our minds. These truths may take time to become habits in our lives but are so important. Make it a habit of incorporating these wise principles into your life.

Tomorrow we will have another short segment of Wisdom Unplugged where we will uncover an inspirational wisdom quote. So, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person when you meet with them and invite them to come along with us each day.

If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. Don’t forget to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek, so each trek will be downloaded to you automatically. I would also appreciate it if you would rate and review us on iTunes or Google Play so that others will find out about Wisdom-Trek and join us.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you on Monday!