If It Ain’t Yours
Proverbs 26:17 NKJV
17 He who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own
Is like one who takes a dog by the ears.
When I was a young child, my mother would sometimes take my sister and me with her when she went shopping. Keeping in mind these were the days before Amazon, and you had to physically go into a store. And no, I don’t consider those the good ole days. If my mom had to take us into a nicer store, she would warn us, don’t touch anything. The message was don’t touch unless you want to pay for it. Thus, if it ain’t yours, don’t touch. I was pretty good at obeying those instructions. I also knew that if I broke something, it would come out of my allowance. My parents were big believers in actions have consequences.
Our proverb for today is similar in that we are encouraged not to touch what doesn’t belong to us. In this case, what doesn’t belong is a quarrel between other people that does not involve us. The wisdom of the ages says don’t touch, because if you do, you’ll pay for it. To get involved in strife that doesn’t belong to you is akin to grabbing a dog by the ears. For those of you who are not “dog people,” I will elaborate. Simply put, if you grab a dog by the ears, you will get bitten. Dogs do not respond well to being grabbed by their ears. I know someone is going to write to me and tell me they had a dog that their kids would grab by their ears and the dog did nothing. I certainly won’t argue about your kind dog, but I bet if I grabbed him by the ears, it would be a different story.
The general idea behind this proverb is totally sound. Involving yourself in an argument that has nothing to do with you is generally not wise. Strife is never encouraged in the Scriptures. In the New Testament, James wrote, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” James 3:16 KJV Strife relates to self-seeking and people wanting their own way. Best stay out of those situations. Paul corrected the church at Corinth for acting as people who had not been changed by the Lord because they were involved in strife. Paul called them carnal or flesh ruled. So we can easily see that confusion, evil works, and carnality are things to avoid, not things to meddle with.
If the quarrel ain’t yours, don’t touch it. This will keep you from being bitten.