Be Still And Know

Proverbs 10:18 This is one of those verses that makes you sit up. On the face of it, it might seem to be a very good thing to hide hatred because hatred is an ugly and destructive experience. How would we ever cope if everyone was totally honest and open about the people and things they hate? I think the point being made is that if you do hate someone or something then acting as if you love them, or are not bothered, gives a completely false impression. You are misleading everyone in a dangerous way. You are effectively living a lie. So what should we do when we are overcome by hatred? The implication is that we shouldn’t bottle it up because, in doing so, we are in danger of doing ourselves serious damage. We may fall into depression or become totally negative and cynical in our attitude to others. While the hatred is still burning away inside of us it cannot fail to do damage. This surely means that, since we don’t want to be liars, we need to deal with anything that is stirring up hatred in us.