Thought for the Day

Verse 8 - A scornful person can incite people to take up a grievance who will incite more people to take up the grievance and so on. This anger can even lead to the extreme of unruly mobs and anarchy. Scorners also incite contention in churches. One person takes offense at something and complains about it to other people, who then take up the offense and spread it to others. Instead of going to the pastor and praying about the problem, they fall into a snare of Satan and begin stirring up strife. People of wisdom should seek God as to how to neutralize a scorner's inflammatory words. Praying the scripture in faith over these kinds of situations can change and subdue angry crowds through God's power: "...Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people" (Psalm 65:7).

One of the first things we need to know about God is that He is the source of all good things. He loves us. In fact, the Scripture says He loved us so much He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. We should not believe in praising God for tragedies, for sickness, for bad things; yet we should believe in praising Him in the midst of these circumstances. The bad things did not come from God and we don't want to blame the Lord for something the devil sent. Our God is not the author of sickness, sin, tragedies, sorrow and heartache. The devil is the one who sends these things, and then tries to get us to blame them on the Lord. God is on our side, and when we begin blaming God and murmuring against Him, we have fallen into the devil's trap. We invite the "destroyer" into our lives when we yield to the devil's temptation to accuse God for our troubles. This was the source of Job's problems, until he saw the light and repented for uttering things he did not understand. Once Job repented of his own self-righteousness and pride, then the Lord blessed and restored all things to him (Job 42:1-6).

Verse 9 - Because a foolish man's spiritual eyes are blinded, he cannot see the truth nor understand the viewpoint of those who walk in God's wisdom. When a godly man tries to explain the truth to a fool, he cannot be made to see reason, and the foolish man either rants or mocks. It is as 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says: "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."