“The Glory of Overlooking Things”
“Prov. 19:11 Good sense makes one slow to anger,
and it is his glory to overlook an offense.” (English Standard Version)
I wasn’t very glorious the other day. In fact, I almost caused a very serious accident. The details don’t matter. What does matter is that I did not handle a highway offence in a glorious manner. Quite the contrary: I allowed a jerk to turn me into a jerk myself.
Of course, if the jerkiness had not been in me, it couldn’t have come out of me. Andy Stanley warns his listeners not to make the following statement, “I don’t know where that came from” when they’ve messed up. Andy says, “I know where it came from. It came from you!” Right! (One of the things I really like about Andy Stanley is that I don’t like a lot of what he says. But, of course, he’s right.)
It is easy to rationalize this proverb, if we simply look at most of the translations. We might think that the word translated “offence” (English Standard Version) suggests a minor offense. Nope! The Hebrew word pāšaʿ suggests a serious violation of trust. This Hebrew word is often translated as “rebellion” or “transgression”. It applies to both rebellion against God and human beings. So, it is not legitimate to say, “Oh, I do in fact overlook minor things, but when it comes to big things, I don’t overlook. I don’t even just get mad. I get even!” And it is always a big deal when someone transgresses against or offends us, isn’t it?
Choosing to overlook an offense doesn’t mean denying it or minimizing it. Rather, creative overlooking means acknowledging wrong-doing, at least to ourselves, and then thinking of the best response. My problem is that I don’t always think about the best response. I simply react. And reactors—nuclear and human reactors—are always in danger of meltdowns. Unless someone is about to pull the trigger on a gun, I almost always have time to think about my response.
And of course, there is prayer. It may need to be short. (“Help God!” comes to mind as being about the proper length of such prayers.)
God, help us to slow down today. Help us to think about our responses. Help us to make glorious choices about how to respond to wrong-doings today. Deliver us from becoming the same kinds of jerks that offend us.
Yes indeed!
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