The good…
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Hebrews 1-:24
The bad….
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath:
but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4
We can provoke for good or for bad
Stimulate is another word that gives a sense of what it means to provoke
The sayings:
Let sleeping dogs lie
Or stirring the hornets nest
Those are pictures of provoking
With children or perhaps those we minister to,
there are beneficial ways to speak the truth or correct
and those types of responses that might provoke
which might not help the message to get through
I’m not one to mince words
While we should speak the truth in love,
sometimes love is not cushy and warm,
the words just need to be said
It’s a balance
If we look back on some of the ways we phrased things,
there might’ve been a better way to say them
Without love, we are clanging cymbals and sounding brass
But if we are trying to warn people out of love,
there may not be a way to say something that sounds loving
They might take everything you say as unloving
Your children may not understand
that you were loving them at the moment of correction
When Ezekiel was told to warn the people,
God did not tell him to argue,
to try to convince them,
to speak the words in a certain way,
God said warn them and if they don’t listen,
their blood shall be upon their own head and your soul will be saved
If they don’t listen…
Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them,
When I bring the sword upon a land,
if the people of the land take a man of their coasts,
and set him for their watchman:
If when he seeth the sword come upon the land,
he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; 4Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning;
if the sword come, and take him away,
his blood shall be upon his own head.
He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning;
his blood shall be upon him.
But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
But if the watchman see the sword come,
and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned;
if the sword come, and take any person from among them,
he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.
So thou, O son of man,
I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel;
therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth,
and warn them from me.
When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die;
if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way,
that wicked man shall die in his iniquity;
but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it;
if he do not turn from his way,
he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Ezekiel 33:1-9
The prophets were often hated and despised
often for their words from the Lord
There would not have been a cushy way to say the truth
The prophets often spoke very frank, clear messages
To make sure you are being a
perfectly-tuned-vessel-for-the-Lord
That is not always easy
Oftentimes, the prophets were despised and hated
and their personalities were not flattering, warm, fuzzy personalities,
they just said what the Lord gave them to say
While that is true, if there is a way to not provoke people, that is best,
if it is possible to speak the truth and still be the person you are
and to warn others, as is the case when you encounter false teaching
As for me, I often speak so much to the point
and some people are not used to that, some don’t like it
I suspect that no matter how I spoke,
if the people didn’t like the message, they would find another area to criticize
That does not mean I can ignore the admonitions of the scriptures
to speak the truth in love
Jesus received a lot of flack from the Pharisees who didn’t like His words
They sometimes had criticism of His presentation as well
They didn’t want Him to heal on the Sabbath,
to eat with sinners
and they wanted Him to take Himself off of the cross
if He really was the Son of God
Save thyself, and come down from the cross.
Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves
with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Mark 15:30-31
The truth is the truth no matter who tells it
The truth is the truth, no matter how it is presented
Let us be sensitive, as much as is possible, to speak the truth in love
Let us also remember that Satan is the accuser of the brethren
There are many who get caught up in the presentation
or the personalities of the person giving the message
There are so many softies who like to cast judgment
on the way something was said,
rather than take the message to the Lord to find if there is truth in it,
because they think if the presentation isn’t to their liking,
they don’t have to listen or the message is then of no value
which brings us back to the provoking idea
If it is possible, do not make the message worse than it is
and try as much as you can to keep flesh out of it,
just say it clearly and you will stand before the Lord as one who has warned
and possibly they will listen and be spared from the consequences
and your obedience will please the Lord