Dousing Scoffers

For Monday, February 25, 2008
Proverbs 29:8

Scoffers set a city aflame,
but the wise turn away wrath.

Like a pyromaniac, scoffers like to stir up trouble. They get their kicks out of causing a commotion. It is fun to them to see a city aflame with angry words, gossip, and slander. Somehow their ego is stroked to think that they started it all. They are the perverted image of the artist and the builder who delight in what they construct. Scoffers delight in what they destroy.

The answer to the scoffers is the wise person. To fight back against a scoffer is to play his game. People who call in or write-in to talk show hosts, for instance, thinking that they can reason with or even make scoffers feel bad, merely serve as kindling wood for scoffers. The wise understand this, and so they think through carefully how to bring the scoffers' flames under control. They use discernment, rather than anger, to guide their actions. They are able to use discernment because they keep their goal before them, which is to bring peace.

Do you let scoffers set you aflame? Are you frustrated by your inability to "turn away wrath" or to put a scoffer in his place? Remember the goal of the wise, to bring peace. Turn to discernment rather than anger. You will be surprised at how easily discernment can come if you remember your goal.