27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.
2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
a stranger, and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,
but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.
4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,
but who can stand before jealousy?
5 Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
7 One who is full loathes honey,
but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.
8 Like a bird that strays from its nest
is a man who strays from his home.
9 Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. [1]
10 Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend,
and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity.
Better is a neighbor who is near
than a brother who is far away.
11 Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,
that I may answer him who reproaches me.
12 The prudent sees danger and hides himself,
but the simple go on and suffer for it.
13 Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress. [2]
14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice,
rising early in the morning,
will be counted as cursing.
15 A continual dripping on a rainy day
and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind
or to grasp [3] oil in one's right hand.
17 Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another. [4]
18 Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and he who guards his master will be honored.
19 As in water face reflects face,
so the heart of man reflects the man.
20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
and never satisfied are the eyes of man.
21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and a man is tested by his praise.
22 Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.
for you do not know what a day may bring.
2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
a stranger, and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,
but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.
4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,
but who can stand before jealousy?
5 Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
7 One who is full loathes honey,
but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.
8 Like a bird that strays from its nest
is a man who strays from his home.
9 Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. [1]
10 Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend,
and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity.
Better is a neighbor who is near
than a brother who is far away.
11 Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,
that I may answer him who reproaches me.
12 The prudent sees danger and hides himself,
but the simple go on and suffer for it.
13 Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress. [2]
14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice,
rising early in the morning,
will be counted as cursing.
15 A continual dripping on a rainy day
and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind
or to grasp [3] oil in one's right hand.
17 Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another. [4]
18 Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and he who guards his master will be honored.
19 As in water face reflects face,
so the heart of man reflects the man.
20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
and never satisfied are the eyes of man.
21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and a man is tested by his praise.
22 Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.
23 Know well the condition of your flocks,
and give attention to your herds,
24 for riches do not last forever;
and does a crown endure to all generations?
25 When the grass is gone and the new growth appears
and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,
26 the lambs will provide your clothing,
and the goats the price of a field.
27 There will be enough goats' milk for your food,
for the food of your household
and maintenance for your girls.
and give attention to your herds,
24 for riches do not last forever;
and does a crown endure to all generations?
25 When the grass is gone and the new growth appears
and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,
26 the lambs will provide your clothing,
and the goats the price of a field.
27 There will be enough goats' milk for your food,
for the food of your household
and maintenance for your girls.
3 comments:
v1 Do not boast about tomorrow,for you do not know what a day may bring.
No matter how wonderful or how excited we feel about our plan for tomorrow, we cannot presume on it.
You don't know what will happen tomorrow.. James 4:14
The core issue here is : There is only one God (who control tomorrow) and I am not Him!
Come to this powerful God and acknowledge Him and commit your plan to Him.
in all your ways acknowledge him.. proverb 3:6
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God..Phil 4:6
He alone (not us) has the final authority on tomorrow and His purpose will never fail.
Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.. Proverb 19:21
Our confident and boasting therefore should be on Him and His purposes, both revealed and promised to us in His word.
He care more about us than we do for ourselves and He know much better what is good for us.
When our plan does not turn out the way we want tomorrow, how should we feel? Do not be discouraged because it is His plan that prevails.
Jer 29: 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Rom8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose.
Gal 6:14..But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ..
Romans 8:32 Truly He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
My soul, boast not on tomorrow or any other things but boast in the LORD! (Psa 34:2)
V6a Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
Wounded by a friend? Be of good cheer, our text says that faithful is the wound of a friend!
Firstly, the wound is the result of a cut aimed to remove something toxic in us. The eventual healing and health it brings far outweigh the temporarily pain it afflicted.
Secondly, only our friend can warn us of certain dangers (e.g. those coming from our back). We are either totally blinded from seeing it or can only see it at a much later stage- when it is too late to response.
So thank God for friends who tell the truth (instead of hiding them) because of their love for us. God send them to warn us and discipline us..
V5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
If we are down cast because of a friendly wound or we are repaying a friendly wound with unkind word, then we are totally out of sync with the word of God.
Ask “Is he /she a friend or enemy?”
A friend is not an enemy. A friend wants us well while an enemy seeks our destruction.
Ask “Is he/she a righteous man/woman?”
Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;
let my head not refuse it. (Psalm 141:5)
I was just reading Proverbs 27. I have read this so many times, and yet, there is always a new nugget that lights a 'spark' in my head. Today's spark comes from verse 18
He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,and he who looks after his master will be honored. v18
I work in the corporate world where people always complain about their bosses and exchange horror stories about them, some of these could be pretty scary(and true!) and yet the Bible says, "he who looks after his master will be honoured."
What does look after the master entail (by the way, I am looking at this in the context of masters in terms of bosses)? Most people would construe it as 'curry favouring the boss (or angkat boss, as we would say locally). I don't think this is what the Bible meant. I think looking after means, not talking ill about the bosses, understanding the stress that they are under and supporting them in every way that we can. It also means doing the work that has been assigned to us honestly and diligently.
When we do this we submit to the authority that God has placed us under (Rom 13 : 1 - 6). Its not an easy thing to do especially if we have a tough boss but if we want to eat the fruit, we need to tend to the fig tree first.
Post a Comment