Proverbs 26:17
Like one who grabs a wild dog by the ears,
so is the person passing by who becomes furious over a quarrel not his own.
When I was younger, our family went on a trip to visit some family up in Michigan. While we were on the trip, I went with my cousin while he was taking care of some dogs. They were two big dogs. I can’t remember the kind of dog my cousin took on the walk, but I remember the dog I had was a big, black Chow Chow.
The first day I was pretty scared of the dog, and tried to keep my distance and avoid eye contact with it. But, on the next day, I was getting a little more comfortable with the dog and decided I was going to pet it. As I was reaching in to pet the dog on the head, he snapped and barked at me in a terrifying fashion. It was a good test to my bladder control – I’m glad to tell you I passed.
To this day, I don’t know what it was about y trying to pet that dog that set him off, but I just about lost an arm that day.
The amazing thing is, this was a trained dog. This was a domesticated animal, not a wild dog. Imagine if I had tried to do the same thing to a wild Chow Chow! I probably would have lost more than my appetite.
There is something in a lot of us that wants to jump into a fight and help stop it. When we see someone fighting, we want to intervene to help bring about a resolution. Especially when we see a physical fight. When someone is getting hurt, we feel the need to jump in.
But this piece of advice comes to us from the book of Proverbs, when you’re walking by someone who is fighting, it’s best not to become worked up about it.
Take a lesson from the Chow Chow, don’t intervene.
