What a Day may Bring

 Read Proverbs 27

This chapter starts off with a zinger.  It’s about making plans, boasting, and the fact that while God claimed you for eternity, you don’t know what is in store for you tomorrow while you live in these bodies of flesh.

Do not boast about tomorrow,

    for you do not know what a day may bring.

Let’s start with boasting.  Any attitude that brings your hubris to the surface is surely not rooted in humility.  It’s the attitude that tries to build a Tower to Heaven.  The only boasting we should do is in the Lord.

We have plenty of counsel on humility.  Boasting of ourselves and our designs ignores the counsel.

But what about tomorrow.  Should we not have some inclination about what we might do?  Of course, you should, but it is always subordinate to the direction of God, his holy word, and his Spirit.

Plan to your heart’s content, but don’t get married to your plan.  Don’t covet the things of your plan.  God always has the best plans for you.

Make the words, thy will be done, a part of every plan you make and every step you take.

Consider now the fact that we don’t know what will happen in the course of this day, much less the next.

On 6 December 1941, most Americans thought that the wars raging in the world were far away.

On 10 December 2001, most Americans thought that terrorism took place in faraway places they would never visit.

On any given day, someone somewhere lost a loved one suddenly.  This was not the cancer that had gone on for years.  This was not the result of years of smoking.  This was not the last straw from PTSD.

This was the truck that came out of nowhere to blindside a loved one’s vehicle.

This was the previously undetected condition that cause a heart to stop that was otherwise thought healthy.

This was the one in the one in a million chance of getting struck by lightning.  Somebody had to be that one case for there to be a one-in-a-million chance.  You didn’t see that coming.

Those all seem bad.  What about the fact that out of seemingly nowhere you meet the love of your life?

What about that job offer for the thing you like to do best at a great salary and a great location?

What about that inspiration for a song or a poem or a novel that wasn’t there yesterday?

You do not know what a day may bring.  We make plans but don’t boast in them.  We seek the best of each day and the best that we can do with each day.  Paul told us to make the most of every opportunity for we live in a time not given over to loving God.

Often, those opportunities arrived unannounced.

We look forward to the day ahead celebrating it as the day that the Lord has made, but our plans must always be secondary to God’s plans.  In this willingness to yield to his sovereignty we find peace and strength and comfort.

The chapter has several stand-alone pieces of counsel, but let’s consider two proverbs that are mutually supporting. Let’s start with Proverbs 27:6.

Wounds from a friend can be trusted,

    but an enemy multiplies kisses.

Let’s also consider Proverbs 27:9.

Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,

    and the pleasantness of a friend

    springs from their heartfelt advice.

We have seen proverbs about how some people appear to be generous but are actually expecting something in return.  There is no gift, only investment in something to be recouped later.

But a true friend does not attempt bribery.  In fact, the best of friends speaks candidly with you, not to hurt you but out of love.  A true friend can speak the truth in love.

Just as perfume is pleasing to us, so too is advice that comes from the heart and is rooted in love.  You need a true friend who can reach you at your innermost levels and know you well enough as to how to do it.

A friend sticks with you when the going gets tough and won’t sugar coat anything. A friend will speak the truth in love to you even when it’s difficult for both of you to hear the truth.

Let’s wrap up with verse 21.

The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,

    but people are tested by their praise.

There is a process to purify fine metals so that what you have left is pure.  How do you test a person’s heart?  God sees the heart, but what about us?

How do we test others to know if they seek the Lord or are just trying to lure us in?

How are we tested by others?

Wisdom says, look at whom they praise and how they react when they are praised.  Are they playing a game of working their way up the hierarchy of the world?  OK, in common parlance, are they sucking up?  Absent gold and silver to bribe someone up the ladder, do they try to do it with praise?

Or do they just praise what is praiseworthy, noting that the effort—whatever it was—would bring glory to God.  That doesn’t advance you up the ladder when you declare God’s glory to someone seeking their own glory.

Now, how do we handle praise?  We should be able to accept praise.  Sometimes we do a great job and someone wants to point it out.  That’s ok.  It’s nice to be noticed but never lose sight of the fact that whatever you did that was noteworthy, you did working for the Lord and not for men.  It was and is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

A humble person can receive compliments and praise and not let it go to their head.  It should only be an affirmation that their light shines before others and brings glory to God.

There is much more in this chapter.  Some you have heard before and some perhaps for the first time.  It’s worth another read.

Amen.