Extol – To lift up, to praise
Psalm 72:18-19a
Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel,
Who alone works wonders.
And blessed be His glorious name forever;
And may the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Just like king David of old, President Ronald Reagan understood the importance of this concept. Constantly he showed gratefulness, thankfulness, kindness, cheerfulness, love, mercy, grace, anything that might be associated with a Gentleman. These qualities are some of the most important qualities when working with people, either leading or following and is why President Reagan was so loved by his friend and feared by his enemies. He showed that one can be completely honest about your beliefs and yet still be respected by those who disagree with you.
So many of those who disagreed with him, media, communists and democrats tried extremely hard to make him look bad. Many stories rehearsed were about how he responded to these challenges. One thing he most understood was how to answer, specifically, how to answer foolish questions. Proverbs deals specifically with these topics in chapter 26 verses 4 and 5. It states, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him. Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes.” What a picture President Reagan painted in so many stories of these verses. One story related by President H.W. Bush at the funeral involved a Bishop Tutu from South Africa.
Bishop Tutu visited President Reagan in the White House. During his visit, he began vehemently listing his complaints against President Reagan. After meeting with President Reagan, Bishop Tutu left and began rehashing his complaints with the media outside the White House. The next day the media knowing full well how Bishop Tutu felt about the meeting tried to trap the President by asking him how his meeting went with Bishop Tutu. Recognizing the foolishness of this question, President Reagan replied replied “so so”. “Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes.”