Stop It Before It Starts
“The beginning of strife is like releasing water; therefore, stop contention before a quarrel starts.” (Prov. 17:14).
Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so, drop a matter before a dispute breaks out. As soon as the smallest breach is made in the dike, the water begins to press from all parts toward the breach; the resistance becomes too great to be successfully opposed, so the dikes and all, are rapidly swept away. Such is the beginning of contention and quarrels.
On May 1, 1889, a catastrophe happened that took over 2,200 lives. The greater tragedy is that it was entirely preventable. It was the Johnstown flood. It was the deadliest flood in U.S. history.
Johnstown sits on a floodplain subject to frequent disasters. In 1840, officials constructed a dam on the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles upstream from Johnstown. Nine hundred feet by seventy-two feet, it stood as the largest earthen dam in the United States, creating the largest man-made lake of the time, Lake Conemaugh. The dam was part of an extensive canal system that became obsolete as the railroads replaced the canal as a means of transporting goods. As the canal system fell into disuse, maintenance on the dam was neglected.
In 1889, Johnstown was home to 30,000 people, many of whom worked in the steel industry. On May 31, the residents were unaware of the danger that steady rain over the course of the previous day had caused. A spillway at the dam became clogged with debris that could not be dislodged. An engineer at the dam saw warning signs of an impending disaster and rode a horse to the village of South Fork to warn the residents. However, the telegraph lines were down, and the warning did not reach Johnstown. At 3:10 p.m., the dam collapsed, causing a roar that could be heard for miles. All the water from Lake Conemaugh rushed forward at 40 miles per hour, sweeping away everything in its path.
People in the path of the rushing flood waters were often crushed as their homes and other structures were swept away.
The story reflects the Proverb. The disaster could have been stopped before the flood ever took place. Just a little attention and maintenance and lives would have been saved. There would have been no flood.
So it is, the beginning of strife is like releasing water. Once the flood starts, lives are destroyed. However, if we stop contention and strife before it ever happens, there is no quarrel. So, cut off strife before it gets started!
The Proverb does not just relate to strife and contentiousness. It is true of most problems that happen. At some point, early in the problem, there is always a place to stop it before it grows to be an explosion. By the time the explosion comes, too much damage has already taken place.
Most problems are preventable: marriage, parent-child, financial, brother to brother, church, etc. We just have to take the necessary step to be vigilant and not let the water be released to destroy lives.
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