PROVERBS 25
23 The north wind brings forth rain,
and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.
24 It is better to live in a corner of the housetop
than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.
25 Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
26 Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain
is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
27 It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.
28 A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
– Proverbs 25:23-28
PROVERBS 25 THE WORLD OF THE DIFFICULT & ANGRY PEOPLE
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
When a man continually seeks to gain glorify for himself
He will be oblivious and apathetic to anyone else
He is without self-control like a broken city without borders
He will repeatedly manipulate to have control over others
The angry man pursues to destroy anyone who wouldn’t yield
He becomes much more wicked when he is exposed with his schemes.
In these following verses, we are given a deeper dive to the world of the quarrelsome and angry people. In verse 23, the writer describes a type of difficult and angry people: the gossipers and slanderers. Their malicious intent to destroy other people’s character and reputation are likened to the north wind that brings forth rain. The gossip and character assassinations are likened to the north wind that spreads so rapidly and results in rain in the form of divisions, discords, conflicts and heart-murders. They bring about stormy relational weather in all their relationships. In verse 24, the quarrelsome wife is impossible to live with and the writer says it is better to live on the tip of the rooftop rather than being with his nagging & destructive wife because they make life a living hell as they spew out anger incessantly.
In verse 25, there is a break in the description of these angry and bitter people where good news is likened to those who are patient, wise and prudent people, they give you a break from all the negative toxicity that the difficult and angry people so easily and automatically poison relationships with. It is interesting how verse 26 describes that tolerance and compliance of a wise man to the wickedness shown by these difficult, toxic people can actually corrupt their own thinking and compromise their integrity. This way, the evil man defiles the entire community. Just like Paul instructs the Ephesians in 5:11 that they need not take part in any unfruitful works of darkness, but instead, expose them, verse 27 exposes the self-promotion that proud and wicked people employ to get adulation. Verse 28 describes that their lack of discipline reaps ruin, an anxious & fearful mind and a fruitless life.
REFLECTION
· How must Christians deal with difficult and angry people as the bible instructs them?
