To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!
– Proverbs 15:23
Picture this Proverb when we’re talking to somebody else and maybe somebody has a question, or they’re wrestling through a decision to make an apt answer brings joy to that person. Or to give a word in season, a timely word to encourage somebody up. To build somebody up, to give counsel to somebody in a way that’s helpful. How good that is!
Look for opportunities to bring joy to others through true and timely words.
Proverbs 15:23 Shares the Value of the Right Words
We think about how many times in our lives when somebody has said just the right words at a particular time. The right words to encourage us when we needed encouragement. When we were wrestling through a decision the right counsel that was needed at that moment. An apt answer. It brought joy to us. The words in season like that are so good to our souls. And so think about the people you’ll be around today or tomorrow and the opportunities you have to give apt answers, to give words in season.
I read this, and I’m just driven to pray that God would help me give wise counsel to others, apt answers, good encouraging words in season. To be on the lookout for ways that we can speak to others in this kind of fashion, in a way that brings to them, in a way that just causes them to walk away saying that was really good to hear.
This Verse Leads Us Pray for Wise Counsel
So let’s look for those opportunities and pray, “Oh God, we want to give apt answers in ways that bring joy to men and women around us. We want to give words in season. Help us to be sensitive to the opportunities we have today, tomorrow to encourage the people around us, just to build them up. To help them in situations they may be facing where they’ve got decisions to make, to help them with wise counsel. God help us to give wise counsel, counsel beyond our means. Counsel that comes from your word and your spirit. Help us to give that kind of counsel. Help us to speak words in season today. Use our words to bring goodness and joy to the people around us. Today we pray. Help us to make the most of every conversation we have along these lines. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
