Well a good Wednesday morning to you, last day of July. So we're wrapping up the month of July today and also wrapping up another book of the Bible. Today we're reading in Proverbs in the last three chapters 29 to 31 and today it's kind of following up on the verses we looked at yesterday in Proverbs 26.

The Fool Who Rages Instead of Listening

You know the ones about don't answer a fool according to his folly lest you be thought a fool, and then answer a fool according to his folly lest he thinks he's right, goes off half-cocked. Well today again we're dealing with the fool and in chapter 29 verse 9 it says this, if a wise man has an argument with a fool, alright ever had that happen?

If a wise man has an argument with a fool then what happens? What happens? How does the fool handle an argument? Not one of those knock-down drag-out fights. I'm talking about differences of opinion where you know you have to argue your side.

How does a fool handle an argument? Okay, if a wise man has an argument with a fool, the says, the fool only rages and laughs and there is no quiet. The fool only rages and laughs and there is no quiet.

So here's the scenario. The wise man, he's right, he makes sense, his position is the correct position. The fool on the other hand is in error, but he doesn't care about being in error, he just wants to keep doing the foolishness that he's doing, or he keeps wanting to hold on to the argument of folly that he's holding on to, and rather than listen to reason and listen to an argument, he will instead rage against the wise person, laugh at him, make fun of him, or somehow, and there's no peace, there's no quiet in the whole thing.

A Personal Example of Online Rage and Misrepresentation

So let me give you an example of this. Several years ago, well, in the year, the COVID year, you remember that, there was all kinds of, well, all kinds of things came out that year, right? Well, I had a, I had a quote-unquote friend on Facebook, and that person happened to notice something I posted, and I have no, I don't remember at all what it was I posted, but it was a link to an article in, somewhere, and the writer of the article had also written an article or articles in another publication, and the person, somebody, you know, read that, read what I, that I had posted this thing, and then they started raging against me.

So rather than reading the article and considering the article on the merits of what it had to say, this person just started raging at me, blasting me for being a racist, and saying, how in the world could you post something on this, post something by this person, because this person wrote an article that showed up in this periodical, and this periodical is known for publishing racist stuff, and they just raged.

And so, you know, I thought, well, man, I don't know anything about this, what are you talking about? So I just kind of did a little research, and found out that what that person was saying about the other publication was blown out of proportion, was just pure rhetoric, and it was, it was an attack on that publication, because they happened to publish an article one time by somebody who was considered to be racist, and what the person wrote had nothing to do with race, it's just, it's just ludicrous, this is nonsense.

Well, you know, I kind of figured out where this person was coming from, sort of, and I tried to respond to them in a personal message way, and said, hey, look, you know, that's not what this is about, you know, did you read this, and the person finally just basically said, you know, I don't have anything to do with you, I can't stand you, I thought you were a good guy, you're just another one of those racist preachers, and all that kind of stuff, and I don't have anything to do with you.

So I said, well, okay, let's not answer a fool in the manner of her folly, so I just quietly unfollowed that person, and, you know, and was done with it. So yeah, when you try to get into an argument with a fool, and the fool is going to be in the wrong position, that's why he's a fool, what's he going to do?

How's he going to handle it? Well, he's certainly not going to listen carefully, and respond thoughtfully, and say, hmm, you might be right. Yeah, doesn't happen, does it? Never happened to you, has it?

Prayer for Wisdom and Measured Words

All right. Heavenly Father, I pray, deliver us from that kind of folly, help us to be wise, help us to be thoughtful, help us to be careful, and measured with our words, and Father, I pray that we would avoid the folly of the fool we see in Proverbs, we pray.

We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. All right, listen, have a great rest of your Wednesday, may the Lord bless you, and good day.