Welcome to the Feminine Podcast, this is Nancy Wilson, thanks for joining me today.

Today the topic is stirring up.

The expression is used many times in the Bible most often in the sense of stirring up trouble.

Here are four examples from Proverbs.

Proverbs 10-11, hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.

Proverbs 15-1, a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15-18, a wrathful man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger, a laze contention.

Proverbs 28-25, he who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered.

So just taking these four verses we see that hatred, harshness, wrath and pride stir up trouble,

strife and anger.

How do they do this?

Well, no doubt, the hatred, harshness, wrath and pride come out of the mouth.

I think they can also come out of the eyes with a look, but most of the time let's face it,

it's words, words can stir up, lots of trouble, as well as a hateful look or a sneer.

And you can see this all over the internet, can you not?

Stirring up of strife, stirring up of anger, stirring, stirring, lots of stirrings.

To stir up is to create a mood, a reaction, and in the instances above and Proverbs a fight breaks out,

and to stir it up is to intentionally try to get others to react.

Hatred creates a mood of contention, and this is what causes riots or wars to break out.

Jezebel stirred up her husband, Ahab, to do wickedness.

It's a wicked stirring, but words can also stir up fear.

If you're in the Bible reading challenge, then you're reading Nehemiah with us right now,

...