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.

As Iron Sharpens Iron

 Read Proverbs 27

This chapter has counsel old and new, and some that require concentration and meditation.  One of these proverbs should hit paydirt for every Christian.  Consider verse 17.

As iron sharpens iron,

    so one person sharpens another.

We who have been saved by the mercy and grace of God have been given considerable liberty in how we respond to that grace.

Should we go on sinning so that grace can abound even more? No.

Should we go back to strict obedience to the law of Moses?  And forsake the One who fulfilled the law?

We are told that love fulfills the law.  That sounds like a cop-out, but it is truly a challenge like none other.

Understand that when Jesus commanded his disciples—today that includes us—to love one another as he loved them—he raised the bar.

What was the command prior to this?  Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.  That’s a tall order.  It’s tough.  It’s part of two commands that Jesus said supported every other directive and communication from God.  The first part being to love God with everything that we had.

Then Jesus came and fulfilled the law.  He gave us another command—a new command. We are to love others as much as Jesus loved us.  If we consider what is asked of us, every jaw should hit the ground.  It is as if he commanded us to charge those machine gun nests armed with only a .45 caliber pistol.  He is commanding us to do the impossible—to love with everything we have even to death.

That’s a lot more than loving someone as much as I love myself.  That’s more than is humanly possible.  That’s the point.  We are to live as people who have God living within us.  We are not worried that we will comply with a written rule.  We are motivated fully by the desire to please Holy God, and when we live governed by love we can’t help but satisfy the law.

Love takes us far beyond the law.  It takes us to bringing glory to God, to being the light of the world, and to being the salt of the earth.  People should see and taste the goodness of God when they encounter us.

But the world stands in opposition. The world tries to confound us at every turn.  The world will persecute you for following Jesus.

We need help and we have it.  We have God’s holy word that judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  We have God’s Holy Spirit—the Helper—living within us. We have the body of Christ to encourage each other and to challenge each other.

It is the last one that would seem to embody the proverb.

As iron sharpens iron,

    so one person sharpens another.

We who have professed Jesus as Lord and have given our lives to follow him as Lord are to help each other.  Surely encouragement is helpful, but we also need to be challenged by one another.

We need to help each other bring out the best in ourselves.  Sometimes it’s a pat on the back.  Sometimes it’s an attaboy.  Sometimes it’s a helping hand.

Sometimes it’s a challenge, just as your lifting partner challenges you to get one more repetition. He is there to spot you if you have nothing left so the weight of everything doesn’t come crashing down, but he is challenging you to finish that last rep.  He will grab the bar when you do and put it in its resting place, but for now, he wants you to give this last repetition everything you have and just a bit more.

As iron sharpens iron,

    so one person sharpens another.

Should we not help each other be the best disciple that we can be?  Should we accept not only encouragement but counsel as well?  Can we accept criticism that helps us get better?  Can we do the same for our brothers and sisters?

Can we speak the truth in a spirit of love, not to prove ourselves right, but because we are mature enough to communicate deeply with another believer?

We have been counseled sufficiently that the fool will not receive our counsel, but our fellow believers should.  We should receive the corrections of our brothers and sisters in Christ as well.

Few know the experience of iron sharpening iron as it applies to humans.  We are too easily offended.  We are too easily distracted.  We are still too self-centered.  Too often we insist on our own way.  We have to be right.

Sometimes we are not distinguishable from the fool.  That should motivate us somewhat to seek the counsel of others and covet the correction of other believers.

We have the advantage that God will not kick us to the curb.  He loves us with an everlasting love.  We can make mistakes, receive correction, and get back in our race of faith.

Some of our mistakes call for confession, but God is faithful and just to forgive.  God always sets us up to move forward—to grow in his grace.

The grace comes from God but we can help each other with the growth.

As iron sharpens iron,

    so one person sharpens another.

Amen.