Gentle Strength (Proverbs 19:11)

Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
– Proverbs 19:11

That is a really good verse to meditate on and apply in our lives. Let’s just take both parts. The first part, “good sense makes one slow to anger.”

Proverbs 19:11 calls us to be slow to anger.

Are you slow to anger? This is something we need to pray for in our lives that we would not be quick to anger. Knowing this is who God is, the Lord, the Lord, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding steadfast love. This is how he reveals himself to Moses in Exodus 34. He is slow to anger.

And aren’t we thankful that God is slow to anger, in his holiness, in his holy hatred of sin, that he’s slow to anger, he’s patient with us? So let us be patient with others. Let’s be slow to anger. Let’s pray for that in our lives when we’re so often quick to become angry. So let’s pray that we would be slow to anger.

And then, the second part, “it is his glory to overlook an offense.” So there are times when it is wise, when it is good sense to overlook an offense. So someone offends us, someone does something to us, and we immediately react. And we want to address that, confront that person for what they have done. There are times when confrontation like that is absolutely needed. And Jesus talks in Matthew 18 about “when a brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault.” So there are definitely times when the Bible says we should address offenses. But here’s a verse that’s telling us that sometimes it’s wise to overlook an offense.

And what that doesn’t mean is to see that offense and then let it fester in you. And maybe you don’t go and confront that person, but it kind of eats at you and you don’t leave it alone in your mind and your heart, and it starts to develop bitterness in you and a sense of unforgiveness in you, and it affects your relationship with that person. That’s definitely not what Proverbs 19:11 is saying.

Proverbs 19:11 encourages us to be patient with others.

Proverbs 19:11 says, there are times when it’s good to overlook, to look past that offense, to not let it fester in you and to not confront it with that person, but just to overlook, to bear with that person, to forgive that person in your heart, and then to move on and not hold it against that person. And sometimes this is the wisest route to take, just to move on and to overlook that offense.

And so we pray, God, help us first and foremost to be slow to anger. We pray for your Holy Spirit in us knowing that you are slow to anger. By the power of your Spirit in us, help us to reflect your character in this way. Help us to be slow to anger toward the people around us. Help us to be patient with the people around us, even as you are with us.

This verse is a calling to practical wisdom.

And God, we pray for wisdom to know when to overlook an offense. God, we pray that you would guard us from bitterness in our hearts and help us to know when it is best to confront someone with how they’ve offended us and work that out in good gospel Christ-centered reconciliation efforts. And God, help us to know when it’s best just to overlook an offense and to forgive someone in our hearts, but not to confront that person, but just to move on and not to hold it against them.

God, we pray for wisdom to know how to experience glory in the language of Proverbs 19:11 by overlooking offenses. And oh God, in all of this, we praise you for the gospel. We praise you for being slow to anger toward us, for forgiving us of our sins through faith in Jesus, and for your holy, righteous, just, and merciful act in sending your Son to pay the price for all of our offenses against you, Jesus. All glory be to your name for taking our sin upon yourself that all of our offenses against you, oh God, might ultimately be overlooked because of the price you’ve paid on the cross for us.

Prayer for the Bagirmi Fulani People

And God, we pray that you’d help us to share this good news with people around us and people around the world. God, we pray for the Bagirmi Fulani people as we pray for this West African people group, specifically the Bagirmi Fulani and the Central African Republic, about 300,000 of them who have little to no knowledge of the forgiveness of sin that’s found in Jesus. God, we pray for the Bagirmi Fulani people to be reached with the good news of your salvation in Jesus, even as we enjoy your salvation in Jesus and live out of the overflow of that in lives that are slow to anger and that overlook offenses. We pray all this according to your word in Proverbs 19:11. In Jesus’ name, amen.