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.(ESV)
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 grasp3 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.Footnotes
[1] 27:9
Or and so does the sweetness of a friend that comes from his earnest counsel
[2] 27:13Hebrew a foreign woman; a slight emendation yields (compare Vulgate; see also 20:16) foreigners
[3] 27:16Hebrew to meet with
[4] 27:17Hebrew sharpens the face of another (ESV)
Proverbs 26 (7-31-21)
Repeatedly in Proverbs 26, Solomon speaks of the foolishness and folly of pride and one who thinks he is right in his own eyes. For example:
Proverbs 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Proverbs 26:16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.
We must understand that pride (including being wise in one’s own eyes) is opposed to God. This is because pride and self-wisdom are lack of righteous humility before the one true God. Pride and self-wisdom cause man to believe he is more important than he is or wiser than he is. In pride and self-wisdom, created man attempts to belittle others, and more importantly, dishonor, reject, and downplay the one true God.
Considering the very first days of creation, we learn in Scripture that pride distorted and ruined what God made as “good.” Pride was the sin that damned certain angels, who in pride became demons. Then, pride was the chosen weapon (sin temptation) of Satan in mankind’s demise in the garden—pride was and is the core of our folly! It is pride that caused Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in their desire to be like God.
Because of those roots of pride, ever since the fall in Eden, pride has been a central demise of mankind.
We live in a demonically-inspired culture that wants to make you and me the center of the universe, wants to make your glory the ultimate goal of your existence, and wants you to think that everyone should bow down and realize how amazing you are. Worse than that, we live in fallen bodies with fallen minds that, apart from God’s sanctifying work, want all those things. The temptations of pride are significant, and God hates pride in His created. We have already read in Proverbs 6:16-17 that a proud look is an abomination to the Lord, in Proverbs 15:25 that God promises to destroy the house of the proud, and in Proverbs 21:4 that a “haughty look and a proud heart … are sin.”
James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud.” Think about that! To be proud—to be wise in your own eyes—is to be opposed to the perfect and good God. The Bible also says that God gives grace to the humble. We don’t need pride; we need grace!
Paul has a strong warning for us in Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.”
“Do nothing” is a strong statement! Selfish ambition is the pursuit of activity or achieving something for oneself with sinful motives. These are the things we do, dream about, and long for that are for our own glory—not the glory of God, according to His design.
This is an endless maze that deteriorates at life. Why? When selfish ambition rules our lives, the goal of filling our own cup never ends because that pursuit is outside of God’s design; it will never satisfy, it can never satisfy. There is always something missing or something to improve or have more of.
Vein conceit is empty glory! Empty glory is a craving be honored—the need to be lifted up—to be right.
It is a form of “secular” self-esteem. This is a frame of mind that causes us to think we are always right and no one else gets us or understands. Solomon calls this foolish because it is a false reality. It is also highly problematic because in it we are all too quick to avoid or ignore good, godly counsel.
Instead of giving into these prideful temptations, we need to be humble and consider others more important than ourselves. And that only truly happens when we are in Christ and following His earthly example.
Paul continues in Philippians 2:4, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” The truest example of living that way is seen in Christ’s life on this earth. We need to be settled in who we are in Christ and not constantly trying to insist on our own way or be above counsel; we must be willing to look to the truth of God and listen to others, not declaring in ourselves that we are right or worthy. We are desperate for the humility of Christ.
What is humility? For created man, it is the personal quality of putting off pride and having an accurate estimate of one’s worth, grounded in the recognition of one’s status before God as one of His creatures. Humility is a state of mind well pleasing to God of deference and submission, not being proud or haughty or arrogant. It is putting off self-wisdom and self-declarations and putting on God’s wisdom and true understanding.
See that a biblical worldview of humility is honestly assessing ourselves in the light of God’s holiness and truth. He is the standard. John Calvin wrote, “It is evident that one never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.”
So, how do we move from being me-centered to other-centered—from vain, selfish, and prideful to serving, loving, and humble? The answer is Jesus! Paul shows us this next. Look at Philippians 2:5-8: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
To kill the poison of pride and self-rightness, we have to embrace a life in Christian humility—and this is only possible if we are redeemed, healed, and redefined by JESUS!
We talked earlier about the popular, secular self-esteem that we run after in sin. Consider now, what can be called “gospel-esteem.” We only have this esteem IN Christ! The only way to look away from self so that you can truly live for God’s glory and look for the good of is to first look to JESUS!
The good news is Christ Jesus humbled Himself to put on flesh and walk among us, to be ridiculed by us, to be picked on and murdered. Because of His humility, He didn’t stand up and level them with His power. His mission was to FREE His chosen from among them with His humble sacrifice.
Jesus humbled Himself for the corporate executives and for the glamour queens. For the arrogant husbands and the vain wife. For those who use their bodies to be noticed and those who use their minds to make others feel dumb. For those who use money to buy power and those who use their skills to remind others they fall short. He did this for the rich young ruler and for the disciples who were always arguing who amongst them was the best. He did this for the Pharisees who walk tall in their showy robes and projected self-wisdom. He did this for the humiliated. The beat down. The poor. The forgotten. Jesus humbled himself for the chosen from all walks of life—who are desperate for God’s redeeming and sanctifying grace. Jesus humbled Himself to death so we could finally be humbled by God in the gift of life!
How can you and I be liberated from the dominating power of the world’s empty definitions of greatness? JESUS! How can you and I be liberated from pride in our own flesh? JESUS! How can you and I experience the lasting joy of being fully known and still fully loved? JESUS! How can you and I experience the satisfaction of Christ’s definition of who we are and no longer long after the world’s definitions that never leave us satisfied? JESUS!
Believers, everything that you and I stand to gain is because of what Jesus humbly earned. May we cling to Jesus and abide in Him daily. He is the prize—He is our only hope! And according to His sovereign plan, He will cause repentance in us, and He will increasingly change what is arrogant and prideful and self-defined into something humble and patient and defined in Christ.
By His grace and for His glory,
Joshua “Shepherd” Kirstine
Soldiers for Jesus MC
23 Like the glaze1 covering an earthen vessel
are fervent lips with an evil heart.
24 Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips
and harbors deceit in his heart;
25 when he speaks graciously, believe him not,
for there are seven abominations in his heart;
26 though his hatred be covered with deception,
his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
27 Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,
and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.
28 A lying tongue hates its victims,
and a flattering mouth works ruin.Footnotes
[1] 26:23
By revocalization; Hebrew silver of dross (ESV)
15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.
16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
than seven men who can answer sensibly.
17 Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own
is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.
18 Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death
19 is the man who deceives his neighbor
and says, “I am only joking!”
20 For lack of wood the fire goes out,
and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.
21 As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
22 The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
they go down into the inner parts of the body.(ESV)