Discretion

This morning I read in Proverbs 19 for my devotions. I was reading through until I reached verse 11, “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression.” When I read this verse I had to stop and reread it, reread it, reread it, and reread it. I could not just move on. Something about this verse really made me stop and want to understand it because I saw that I needed to be this man.
Discretion is an interesting word. It means “the quality of being discreet, esp. with reference to one's own actions or speech” (www.dictionary.com). This is interesting to me. When a person is discreet they know how to hold back their own actions and speech. I understand this verse to say that when I am using discretion I will know how to hold back my actions and speech so that I will be able to be slow to anger. Of course only with God’s help am I able to do this. I definitely need to work on this.
This same man is to overlook a transgression; it will be to him as glory to do so. He realizes that it will cause more trouble to bring up or acknowledge it. This man has used his discretion to prevent him from getting angry or from sinning. I need to be wise enough to know when it is time to overlook a transgression or help admonish from God’s Word. It will be to myself, and those who do the same, glory and honor. This is not done in our own strength but only by God’s strength can we be wise in our discretion so that we may be slow to anger and able to overlook a transgression.

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