Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Proverbs 24-26
Proverbs 26:4-5
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Of a truth, there is a time for everything. Solomon wrote something like that over there in Ecclesiastes 3. A time to be born, and a time to die, to plant and pluck up that which was planted, to weep and to laugh, and on and on the list goes. He lists fourteen contrasts. One of these is …a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Today’s two verses for this devotion is an example. Whereas Ecclesiastes is the macro teaching, Proverbs 26:4-5 is the micro teaching. Macro means the overall masses of a matter like studying the population growth in an entire city. Micro means to study the growth of one family in that city.
In today’s two verses one communicates that there is a time to answer a fool, the next states the opposite: answer not a fool. There are reasons for this, the verses explain why succinctly and there is no reason for further comment, but these two verses present one huge issue that, in today’s society, needs many comments. That issue is: how does a person know what time it is?
Knowing when to plant is easy. The Farmer’s Almanac provides a yearly planting guide. Here in Texas almost everyone knows that you don’t put out your tomato plants until after Easter. When to plant can readily be learned. When to pluck up that which was planted is also easy, one can see the delicious red tomato that is ready to be harvested. The time for some things is readily apparent. Some are not. When to answer a fool and when to not answer a fool is one of those things; when to speak and when to not speak, sometimes is not easy to know.
Enter discretion. In the very first chapter of Proverbs the purpose for the book was given. To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. (1:4). Discretion is basically the ability to know what to do and when to do it. Unfortunately, there seems to be a great void of discretion today. Primarily this is a result of the absence of responding to God’s leadership. Too few seek His daily leadership much less His immediate leadership in, for example, what they speak, when, and how. Take a self-examination. How many times in a day is a prayer uttered, spoken or unspoken, asking God to give direction to what, how, and when to speak?
In the Old Testament book of Isaiah there is an obscure illustration of farming (Isaiah 28:23-29). In that passage, several different threshing instruments and methods are listed. Evidently some crops need one type of threshing at times and at other times other types. At different times of the growing cycle different methods are utilized for different crops. This is very confusing to someone who knows nothing of farming. In one place there it is written: For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin… (Isaiah 28:27) How does the farmer know what to do, when to do it, and how? The entire illustration there in Isaiah is not so much about farming as it is about God’s ability to give anyone discretion. He states clearly in verse 26: For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. The prophet’s illustration is ended in verse 29 with this truth: This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. The Lord God of Heaven gives the farmer discretion and will also give you the same when needed.
Just ask Him.
Dr. William T. Howe
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