Daily Devotionals

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

Devotional: December 28th

“Like one who takes a dog by the ears is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him.” (NASB)

We should realize first of all that the dog mentioned in this verse is not the friendly, gentle, Irish setter that probably wouldn’t mind at all if you held him by his ears. This is the wild, snarling, alley dog with a mean disposition and bared fangs. It would be improbable that you can get close enough to him to grab him by the ears in the first place. But if you could, you’d face a desperate dilemma; you’d be afraid to Hold on and afraid to let go.

Well, it’s a graphic illustration of the person who gets involved in a fight that doesn’t concern him. Soon he has incurred the anger of both the adversaries.

Each one feels that the meddler is interfering with any chance of victory, so they forget their own differences and unite in fighting him.

We smile at the Irishman who went up to two men engaged in a fist fight and asked, “Is this a private fight or can anyone get in?” Yet there is a meddlesome streak in every one of us that tempts us to interfere in squabbles that are none of our business.

Police officers have to be extra careful when they are called to a scene where a husband and wife are quarreling. If that is so, how much more cautious should the average citizen be in intruding in the domestic strife of others!

Perhaps one of the best illustrations of today’s proverb is trouble in the church. It usually starts between two persons. Then others take sides. What started as a spark soon becomes a conflagration. People who have no connection with the problem insist on adding their own wise pronouncements, as if they were the oracle of Delphi. Tempers flare, friendships are shattered, and hearts are broken. As the battle increases in intensity the congregation hears announcements of coronaries, strokes, ulcers and other physical problems. What started as a root of bitterness has spread until many are defiled.

The warning not to meddle in strife belonging to others might seem to conflict with the Savior’s words, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God”. But there is no contradiction. There is a place for a peacemaker when contending parties are willing to have their dispute arbitrated. Otherwise the one who interferes succeeds only in getting himself into a situation from which there is no easy, painless escape.