by A.W. Tozer
The word provoke means to stir up, to arouse. It may be used in a good sense but is so used only rarely. Mostly it refers to the act of making people angry by some real or supposed affront.
We have all noticed how quick many people are to excuse themselves for some outburst by pleading that they were provoked to it. Thus their own wrongdoing is laid to others. What is overlooked in this neat trick of self-exoneration is that provocation cannot stir up what is not there. It never adds anything to the human heart; it merely brings out what is already present. It does not change the character; it simply reveals it.
What a man does under provocation is what he is. The mud must be at the bottom of the pool or it cannot be stirred up. You cannot roil pure water. Provocation does not create the moral muck; it brings it to the surface. No more.
A holy man cannot be provoked to unholy acts. A pure-hearted man may be stirred to action by any of several stimuli, but the action will always accord with the purity of his heart. "Love is not easily provoked," said Paul, and the word "easily" is generally held to be an interpolation. "Love is not provoked," say the majority of translations, though some put the word irritated for provoked, making it read, "Love is not irritable." But granted that love may be provoked, it can never be provoked to any act incompatible with itself. If it is stirred to action the action will be in accord with its own nature. Love can never be anything but love.
It may bring some kind of cheap consolation to the man who has just lost his temper or let himself go in a display of bad disposition to consider that he was provoked to it by the act of another, but if he values his soul he will not thus excuse himself. Honesty will compel him to admit that he had a bad disposition to start with and the provocation merely brought it to the surface. The fault is his own, not that of the one who exposed it.
One thing yet should be added: The New Testament warns that those who incite others to evil acts will themselves be brought to stern justice. The devil tempted Christ but could not persuade Him to do wrong. Christ could not be stirred to evil because there was no evil in Him to stir. Satan's efforts were wasted, and no harm was done; nevertheless he must yet face the terror of God's judgment for his unholy attempt. Whoever puts a stumbling block in the path of the Christian will receive just punishment whether or not he succeeds in causing him to fall. Before the pool can be muddied the muck must indeed be at the bottom, but the hot anger of God will move against the one who delights to stir it up.
( Article taken from The Price of Neglect, Chapter 21 )
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