Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Proverbs 26:5

Sometimes, we just have to say something.  The question is, when should we speak and when should we be silent?  The writer of Proverbs has put two statements together, which seem on the surface, to be contradictory.  Yesterday, we considered the statement, ‘Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.’  Today our text seems to advise exactly the opposite.  Really, it is all about timing, and that is very much a matter of patience and wisdom.  Today the writer advises, ‘Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.’  There are moments, when dealing with fools when we must set forth the truth, even if they are not prepared to receive it.  Again, Christ leads by example.  When His enemies derided Him for saying that ‘Abraham foresaw my day and was glad.’  He countered their insult with, ‘Before Abraham was, I Am,’ thus revealing His Deity.  Christ was answering fools according to their folly.  He was proclaiming the truth, lest they be wise in their own eyes.  At times, we should be silent, at other times we should speak.  When we speak, we should speak truth.  Only God can give us the wisdom to know which response is appropriate on the day.  As we follow Christ, we will be silent at times and speak at times.  The Holy Spirit, Who guides us into truth, will teach us wisdom to know what to do.

Our God and Our Father,
we rejoice that You have spoken to us,
words of life.
We praise You that You have set before us
Christ, the Living Word,
and by Your Spirit show us
when and how to speak.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.

Proverbs 26:4

There is ‘a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.’  Only God can give us the wisdom to discern when we should do one or the other.  ‘In a multitude of words, sin is not lacking.’  We have two ears and one mouth and should use them proportionately.  At times we encounter such breathtaking displays of foolery that we can barely comprehend what the appropriate response should be.  At such times, we are better off to ‘not answer a fool according to his folly.’  The old farmers adage is, ‘never try to teach a pig to sing, it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.’  If we look to the life of Christ, we see some excellent examples of this restraint.  At a certain point, when the Pharisees took offense at His truth-telling, He said to His disciples, ‘Let them alone:  they be blind leaders of the blind.  And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.’  The writer of Proverbs articulated the same idea in our text.  What we need more than anything else is the wisdom to know when to speak and when to be silent in the face of fools.  Natural inclination would lead us to ‘give as good as we get,’ but that is not what Christ teaches us by His example.  Therefore, we appeal to ‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.’  God will give us wisdom for the asking, that we may know when to speak and when to be silent.  So, He leads us in the imitation of Christ.

Our most Wonderful and Wise God,
we rejoice that You teach us through Christ,
when to speak and when to be silent.
We praise You that daily You lead us by Your Holy Spirit,
as we grow in Grace.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning