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Title: Life-Giving Speech
Author: Marion Clark
Text: Proverbs 15:1-7
Introduction
Though small, it has the power to guide something much larger through storms. It is dangerous-dangerous as a small fire in a dry forest. It is full of deadly poison. It is practically untamable, causing destruction suddenly and unexpectedly. It is the tongue. Our proverbs consider this small but powerful part of our body.
Text
A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
The room is tense. You have been spoken to harshly, unfairly. The speaker is angry and frustrated. What do you do? You retort with your own harsh word. He is unfair! He needs to listen! Or, your respond gently, concerned for him. You are hurt. I want to hear about it.
You can predict the effect of each response. It is not difficult to see that responding to hard words with hard words only stirs us the anger that has been seething. That responding softly lets out the tension and allows for the wrath to subside.
2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,
but the mouths of fools pour out folly.
Some translations have adorns knowledge. The point is that the wise know not only the right information, but how to communicate truth in such a way that it is well received. They have the ability to teach in such a way as to make what might have been regarded as boring or as esoteric and make it interesting. But more to the point they can get a lesson across to us that we would otherwise resist. We might be resistant because we do not like anything new; because we might feel threatened by the information; because we might initially think the idea to be ridiculous. Somehow they speak in such a way as to draw us in and listen to them.
Fools, meanwhile, just blurt out whatever they are thinking. The knowledge they think they possess is ridiculous. But even if they actually had real knowledge, they make it unreceivable by their arrogant, foolish ranting.
4 A gentl ...
Author: Marion Clark
Text: Proverbs 15:1-7
Introduction
Though small, it has the power to guide something much larger through storms. It is dangerous-dangerous as a small fire in a dry forest. It is full of deadly poison. It is practically untamable, causing destruction suddenly and unexpectedly. It is the tongue. Our proverbs consider this small but powerful part of our body.
Text
A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
The room is tense. You have been spoken to harshly, unfairly. The speaker is angry and frustrated. What do you do? You retort with your own harsh word. He is unfair! He needs to listen! Or, your respond gently, concerned for him. You are hurt. I want to hear about it.
You can predict the effect of each response. It is not difficult to see that responding to hard words with hard words only stirs us the anger that has been seething. That responding softly lets out the tension and allows for the wrath to subside.
2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,
but the mouths of fools pour out folly.
Some translations have adorns knowledge. The point is that the wise know not only the right information, but how to communicate truth in such a way that it is well received. They have the ability to teach in such a way as to make what might have been regarded as boring or as esoteric and make it interesting. But more to the point they can get a lesson across to us that we would otherwise resist. We might be resistant because we do not like anything new; because we might feel threatened by the information; because we might initially think the idea to be ridiculous. Somehow they speak in such a way as to draw us in and listen to them.
Fools, meanwhile, just blurt out whatever they are thinking. The knowledge they think they possess is ridiculous. But even if they actually had real knowledge, they make it unreceivable by their arrogant, foolish ranting.
4 A gentl ...
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