Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank the Father for the day and the blessing of serving him as King, Lord, and Savior, and ask him to bless his people through the Word.
Read
Scripture Passage
1 Do not boast about tomorrow,
For you do not know what a day may bring forth.
2 Let another man 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 wrath is heavier than both of them.
4 Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent,
But who is able to stand before jealousy?
5 Open rebuke is better
Than love carefully concealed.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
7 A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb,
But to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Pr 27:1-7
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Do not boast about an uncertain tomorrow or praise yourself. Angry foolishness is crushing, sinful jealousy is dangerous, and genuine love must be expressed. A faithful friend's painful correction is better than an enemy's flattering affection, and hunger makes even bitter food sweet.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Proverbs 27:6
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Bryan does not explicitly select a best verse. Verse 6 receives the devotion's most sustained personal example and captures its contrast between loving correction that heals and false affection that betrays.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Speak humbly about tomorrow, build others up instead of praising yourself, openly show love, and both give and receive faithful correction. Hunger for righteousness and receive even bitter correction as sweet because Jesus loves and corrects his people.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Alright, well good afternoon. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. It's so good to have you here with me this afternoon to get into God's Word. We are at Proverbs chapter 27, the first seven verses. Let's go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Oh Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for what a wonderful blessing it is to serve you, our great King, our Lord and our Savior. We pray that as we read your word, that you would bless us this morning. In Jesus' name, Amen. Here we go, Proverbs chapter 27, the first seven verses.
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring." Now, ain't that some truth right there? You don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring, so don't boast about it. Oh, I'm gonna do such and such. I'm gonna do, no, no. What is the book of James tells? If the Lord wills, tomorrow I'll go and do such and such a thing. We just don't know. Today, tomorrow's not guaranteed. All we have is today, and today has enough problems to worry about of its own. Verse two.
Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth, a stranger, and not your own lips. Don't be puffed up with pride. Don't talk about yourself. Don't build yourself up. No, no. Let someone else do that. How about you build other people's up with your words? That's what Ephesians chapter 4 says. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but only that what is good for building others up, that you might impart grace to those who hear. How about we use our mouths to build others up instead of ourselves?
Verse 3, a stone is heavy and sand is weighty. Okay, true statement. What's the moral purpose behind this? But a fool's wrath is heavier than them both. You can go out and you can pick up a huge stone. You can go out and you can fill a bag full of sand and you can put it on your shoulder and carry it. You want to know what's harder to bear? A fool's wrath.
Somebody who's just angry and mad and they're just, It's harder to live with an angry spouse than it is to carry a ton of bricks. It's easier to walk through life with a whole lot of heavyweights on your shoulders than it is a whole lot of angry wrath poured on your soul by someone else. Verse four, wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, but who is able to stand before jealousy?
Now, jealousy's got a bad rap, In our society we think of sinful jealousy, we think of somebody being jealous for something that's not rightfully theirs, but jealousy isn't always wrong. We know that our God is a jealous God. He is jealous for his own glory. A spouse who desires her husband's affection is righteous. but there's also a sinful jealousy. And this, what is this saying? It's saying, you know, wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, but who is able to stand before jealousy?
If you are going after somebody else's spouse, you better watch out because a jealous spouse is one who's given over towards doing all they can to regain their loved one. Verse five, open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Go ahead and talk to someone about that sin in their life with love. It's better to actually show them biblical love and to bring them God's word and say, you know, there's something better for you.
There's something better for you today. And you know what? Maybe you're one of those people you don't like to express love towards others. Let me give you a challenge today. Who can you love and not have a concealed love for them? Who in your life can you show love? By this you will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for the other.
Who's someone that you can give a word of encouragement to today? I got off the phone earlier with a man who brought me to tears by just encouraging me with his prayers. Who's that person you could call? Who's that person you can give a gift to? Who's that person you can unexpectedly stop by and just enjoy time with them? Who can you show love to?
Verse 6. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. I have friends in my life who are able to tell me hard things. I remember one of my best friends, Micah, he was my pastor out in Pennsylvania for a long time. I remember it was after prayer night one night, and I was really torn up about some stuff and really way too busy in my life. And I was newly married, and Micah sat me down in the auditorium, and he was on the stage there, and I was in the front pew. And he looked at me in the eyes, and as a friend could only say, he looked at me and said, why are you being an idiot?
What he was trying to get across to me was, stop trying to do everything. Go home and love your wife. You don't need to be involved in all this stuff. You need to go home and you just need to enjoy some time with Olivia. You need to get your priorities straight.
And so he wounded me in my heart and it was a good wound. It was a wound like a surgeon. But you know what's not very helpful? And it was a deeper wound. when an enemy acts like they love you and they betray you like Judas kissing Jesus. Somebody who acts like they're a friend to your face, but in all reality is ready to stab you in the back.
Verse 7, a satisfied soul loathes honeycomb, but a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. If you are full It's just, I'm just full. It's like Thanksgiving dinner, after all the fixings, and after all the turkey, and after all the desserts, and after all the stuff, you're just like, oh, I can't eat another bite. But to the person who's hungry, to the person who's poor, to the person who doesn't have, even the bitter things are sweet to them.
Well, why don't we go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day, and we thank you for your word. God, we pray that we would hunger and thirst after righteousness, and even when you give us the bitter things that we must taste and eat, to be corrected by a friend, to take the wound of one who loves us, Lord, we thank you that it is sweet to our souls, that even when your word corrects us, We know that you love us. Lord, we pray that you would care for us this day. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus and follow after you. And it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, may you always hunger and thirst for righteousness. May you find your soul satisfied with the sweetness of the gospel. And may you have a great day today. May you walk in peace. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.