The Whisperer in Me

Read: Proverbs 26

“For lack of wood a fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer contention quiets down. Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fires, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.” Proverbs 26:21

Examine:

A feud between two people is fueled by words. The more one talks about the matter the more the flames of the fight are fanned and the intensity of the battle grows. Shut your mouth, close your ears, and you will extinguish the even the hottest of fires.

Apply:

My general stance in life is to never spread third party information and always point a griping person back to the person they are angry with. I am generally pretty consistent in this and life has taught me that this is a strategy that serves me well when I do it and burns my tail when I violate it.

As I read these verses this morning my attention has been grabbed by the line that says, “Where there is no whisperer contention quiets down.” The enemy plants seeds in my flesh that ripen as whispers of thought in my mind. I am bad about hanging on to a matter and visualizing it in my mind. I picture the object of my anger and I say things to them in my mind as a form of rehearsing for the moment that I may actually get to speak to them in person.

This is a foolish path. It keeps me on edge and opens my mind to continually dwell on hurtful thoughts. I am never able to let a matter die because the whisperer inside of me is working double time in his efforts to through coals on the fire. If I learn to shut down the voice of the whisperer then I can learn to calm the fire raging inside of me.

Pray:

I have a temper that frightens me. I live in constant awareness of it and I honestly fear the things I can say and the things I can do when I lose control of it. Most of the things I regret in life I owe to decisions I made when I was angry. I realize this morning that I am fueling this anger with the thoughts I choose to let loose in my mind.

Father, I am powerless over my thoughts. They happen so quickly it is impossible to control them. The issue of the things I think goes much deeper than my mind; it is a matter of the heart. You alone have the keys to my heart and You alone are able to guide me in changing this defect in me. I have allowed the whispers inside of me to run free for far too long. I submit to You this morning and ask that You train me to be a man of peace and strengthen me to let go of my foolish ways.