I'm using Tim Keller's devotional book on Proverbs. It's excellent. Like Proverbs, it's relevant and applicable.
Here is the July 27 entry.
If a wise person goes to court with a fool, the fool rages and scoffs,
and there is no peace.
(29:9)
CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES. Fools rage or, we would say, “rant.” They scoff and mock their opponents, rather than making an argument or a case. Ranters and scoffers do not persuade or build bridges They merely “energize the base”—that is, they preach to those who already agree with them and confirm the views and biases people already have. Today this is the main form of public discourse.
The realism of this proverb shows that sometimes engaging a ranter is unavoidable. We are told to expect a long and painful process. But we must enter it maintaining other commitments, such as not despising the ranter (July 25) and always treating people respectfully (May 10). We are never to do to the ranter what the ranter is trying to do to us—to marginalize and demonize rather than convince. In the New Testament we are directed to, as much as it is within our control, live at peace with the people around us (Romans 12:18), even those who rage and scoff.
Do you rant? Do you enjoy reading or listening to ranters?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you answered your opponents wisely and brilliantly but patiently and constantly. How I want to give back to my critics—with verve—the same disdain they show me. But I want to be like you, not them. Change my heart to make it so. Amen.
(Tim Keller, Kathy Keller. God's Wisdom for Navigating Life: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Book of Proverbs.)
