“Love draws a veil over every insult”  ~ Proverbs 10:12

Have you ever had those awkward moments when someone throws a little jab at you…a tiny insult? It’s sometimes so off-the-cuff that it’s not full blown in your face. You internally wonder, “should I draw attention to this and call it out?” or “should I act like I did not hear it and go on with what I am doing?”

Well, Proverbs 10 in The Passion translation gives us a beautiful invitation into what love looks like in these situations. Love draws a veil over every insult.

We may ask the question, “why do we insult each other?” I think most insults stem from insecurity, jealousy, deep hurt and pain, envy, awkward moments we don’t know what to do with, or maybe it’s how our family of origin always communicated. Of course, I would nutshell insults as operating out of an orphan mentality – not really knowing or living in who I am in Christ. Regardless, insults are not cool!

When I think of a veil, I think of a romantic, thin piece of material that covers the face of a bride as she walks the aisle to meet her groom. The groom then lifts the veil revealing the beauty of his bride and symbolizing, for some, the consummation of the marriage. 

The Bible says that this is what love looks like in the face of an insult. I always try to see myself as a bride, a priceless treasure, royalty, and a deeply loved person. Then if someone should ever drop an insult bomb directed towards me, I am invited to pull a veil over that insult. It’s protecting who I am, to veil an insult. It protects my heart from offense.  It protects my mind from judgments. It keeps my soul clear from clutter. It keeps me as the beautiful bride of Christ that I was created to be. It also protects the other person.

Proverbs 17:9 says, “Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.”

Fascinating!  I am fostering – promoting the development of LOVE when I pull a veil over an offense (insult).

When we are living a missional lifestyle, we have many opportunities to “draw a veil”. Often people we encounter are hurting and as we know from experience,“Hurting people hurt people.” Sometimes those in hard life circumstances or pain will insult us. Jesus invites us to draw a veil when this happens. Jesus was our perfect example. As we read in Isaiah 53:7,  Jesus was oppressed, afflicted, abused and punished, yet He did not open His mouth and retaliate. He drew a veil. His veil consummated a marriage with us, His bride for eternity. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and His great love drew a veil over a multitude of sins and insults.

Maybe as you read this blog you can think of a situation where you were insulted recently.  Maybe you retaliated with stinging words. Maybe you stuffed the rejection and didn’t face how it made you feel. Jesus invites us to get real with Him, offload all insults on Him, release forgiveness and “draw a veil” releasing us into His perfect Love.

Written by:  Nita Weldon

Published on 7/7/2017