Covert Operations

“Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous;
but who is able to stand before envy?” (Prov 27:4).

It’s one thing to fight a battle when the enemy is in front of you. It’s strength against strength, you know where the enemy will attack and you’re ready for him. It’s quite another thing when the enemy wages guerilla warfare, attacking in secret and disappearing again. It’s like fighting an enemy you can’t see. You almost wish they would attack you face to face!
This proverb says a similar thing about anger and unkindness. It hurts when people blow up at you, yell at you, and say mean things to you. You feel awful when a friend tells you they don’t want to spend time with you anymore. It hurts when a person hates you with every fiber of their being and can’t say a single nice thing about you. That kind of anger and hatred is cruel and hurtful. Even worse, though, is the person who is nice to your face but jealous, bitter, and spiteful behind your back. The person who pretends to be your friend but says cruel things when you aren’t around causes almost unbearable hurt.
You can probably think about times when former friends have wronged you like that, but can you think of times when you have hurt your friends? One of the signs of our self-centeredness is we can always see people hurting us, but we are blind to how we hurt others. Think about your friends and how you treat them. Do you love them with a genuine, godly love? Or do you just use them to get what you want? Are you kind and loyal? Or do you make fun of them behind their back to get others to laugh? Are you a good friend? Or are you a scheming, selfish, unkind person? Nothing hurts more than a friend who wrongs you. Don’t be that kind of friend.

A Fool and His Anger

“A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty;
but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both” (Prov 27:3).

Have you ever shoveled gravel or sand? That’s hard work! When you first start, you can make big scoops of rocks and dirt fly, but it’s not long until you’re huffing and puffing! It just wears you out!
This proverb compares “a fool’s wrath,” or when a foolish person gets angry with you, to something heavy and burdensome. (A “fool” in the Bible isn’t someone who is mentally deficient; it is a person who lives life without God.) Even a Christian can act “foolishly” or in a sinful way. Foolish anger is one way that many Christians act like unbelievers and not like Jesus Christ.
We get angry about things we care about. We get mad when things don’t go our way, demonstrating our selfishness. We get angry over things that shouldn’t be important, demonstrating wrong priorities. When we get angry, we often do or say things we regret later. This kind of anger is not pleasing to God.
A fool gets angry fast and it doesn’t take much to make him mad. Proverbs 12:16 says, “The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.” Are you a hothead or have a quick temper? That is not a godly characteristic, but a sign of foolish anger. When a fool gets angry, the scene is not a pretty one. Harsh words are hurled, people are hurt, and many times property is damaged. Proverbs 17:12 says, “Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.” In other words, when a fool gets mad, get out of the way!
What about you? Do you demonstrate foolish anger that is hard for people to put up with? Or do you demonstrate a patience and gentleness that comes from the work of Jesus Christ in your life? Do you act like a follower of Jesus Christ or a fool?

That’s a Job for. . . Someone Else!

“Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth;
a stranger, and not thine own lips.” (Prov 27:2).

It’s hard to think of anything more annoying than a person who constantly talks about himself. Maybe you know somebody who has done everything (at least twice!), been everywhere, seen everything, and is never shy about telling everybody. If somebody starts telling about something they’ve done, he butts in with, “I’ve done that too.” We do not want that kind of person for a friend.
This kind of selfishness and self-centeredness in conversation betrays that same self-centeredness in life. Think about it: if we think highly of a sports team, a brand of clothing, or a favorite activity, our speech will be peppered with references to that thing. What we talk about and who we praise demonstrates what is important to us and foremost in our thinking. If you are constantly talking yourself up and telling others how great you are, it’s a sure sign that you are living a self-centered life.
This self-centered thinking and talking is the opposite of a Christ-centered life. Last week we talked about how Jesus Christ died for us, so that we would not live for ourselves anymore, but for Him. A Christian desires to bring glory to Jesus Christ, not to himself. Instead of shamelessly promoting ourselves and telling other people how great we are, we should be looking for ways to build others up.
If you do great things, keep quiet. Let somebody else praise you, and then “deflect” the glory to God. Finally, if you think nobody will notice the good things you are doing, don’t worry: God sees all things and He will reward you. “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Cor 4:5).