Proverbs 26:20

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about strife:

Proverbs 26:20 (ESV)

For lack of wood the fire goes out,

and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.

 Using an emblematic parallelism, Solomon gives us a clue on how to cut down on strife: Take away the "Whisperer"! Just like a fire goes out when you remove the fuel of the wood, so too does contention end when you remove the individual with the loose tongue. The word "whisperer" in the Hebrew has a broad use. It can mean someone who gossips, someone who grumbles, someone who critizes, and/or someone who actually "whispers" behind the backs of others. This form of communication is a major source of friction and contention. Everyone knows that by simply separating logs in a fire the flames are diminished. The same is true of the whisper in the church, the business, the organization. We have to move them out of contact with the information they are sharing or from the person they are sharing it with. How? The next time someone comes to you in "whisper" mode, walk away! Don't listen! Say to them as they whisper about another, "Before you finish, can I go get (insert name here) and ask them to join us as you talk about them?" They will not only stop talking about them now, it will "remove you from any future fire." The problem with a whisperer is that they have a a listener to be active. Otherswise they are simply that guy or girl who talks to themseleves. Don't be the listener to the whisperer!