Proverbs 27:1–2 CSB "Don’t boast about tomorrow, for you don’t know what a day might bring. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth- a stranger, and not your own lips."
The same verbal root links Proverbs 27:1 and 2. Pride, self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency, and neglect of acknowledging God's sovereignty result in boasting about what we will do tomorrow and praising ourselves for what we did yesterday.
The fish we caught yesterday is always longer today, the deer bigger, the horse faster, the job better. Pride causes us to retell the story to make us the hero. Letting someone in the boat tell the fish story protects us from pride, making us liars. For a believer, the hero of every story should be Jesus.
We boast about tomorrow's plans when we don't know what the future holds. Only God knows what challenges tomorrow will bring. When we praise ourselves for yesterday's victories, we fail to tell how God helped us, protected us, provided, and satisfied our needs. Boasting how we will accomplish our plans tomorrow fail to recognize our need to depend on God. Only God knows what tomorrow will bring.
Instead of praising our past performances or boasting about tomorrow's plans, we need to think about depending on Christ to help us deal with the ups and downs of today.
Lord, help me live today dependant on you, tomorrow in faith in You, and thanksgiving for your unseen help yesterday. As I plan my weekend, let me heed the words of James 4:13–16 (NASB95):
"Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
Yet, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil."
Lord, today I will tell what You did for me yesterday, why my hope is in what You will do tomorrow, and let everyone see my faith in You today. I will not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Today has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34 NASB95). Today, I plan to depend on the Bible to guide me, the Holy Spirit to empower me, Jesus to be seen in me, and God to be pleased with me. Tomorrow I can say, "Look what Jesus did for me yesterday. God has big plans for me tomorrow. The Holy Spirit will be with me come what may. In Jesus' name, amen.
Daily Devotion
Verse of the Day, September 24, 2021
Proverbs 27:1–2 CSB "Don’t boast about tomorrow, for you don’t know what a day might bring. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth- a stranger, and not your own lips."
The same verbal root links Proverbs 27:1 and 2. Pride, self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency, and neglect of acknowledging God's sovereignty result in boasting about what we will do tomorrow and praising ourselves for what we did yesterday.
The fish we caught yesterday is always longer today, the deer bigger, the horse faster, the job better. Pride causes us to retell the story to make us the hero. Letting someone in the boat tell the fish story protects us from pride, making us liars. For a believer, the hero of every story should be Jesus.
We boast about tomorrow's plans when we don't know what the future holds. Only God knows what challenges tomorrow will bring. When we praise ourselves for yesterday's victories, we fail to tell how God helped us, protected us, provided, and satisfied our needs. Boasting how we will accomplish our plans tomorrow fail to recognize our need to depend on God. Only God knows what tomorrow will bring.
Instead of praising our past performances or boasting about tomorrow's plans, we need to think about depending on Christ to help us deal with the ups and downs of today.
Lord, help me live today dependant on you, tomorrow in faith in You, and thanksgiving for your unseen help yesterday. As I plan my weekend, let me heed the words of James 4:13–16 (NASB95):
"Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
Yet, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil."
Lord, today I will tell what You did for me yesterday, why my hope is in what You will do tomorrow, and let everyone see my faith in You today. I will not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Today has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34 NASB95). Today, I plan to depend on the Bible to guide me, the Holy Spirit to empower me, Jesus to be seen in me, and God to be pleased with me. Tomorrow I can say, "Look what Jesus did for me yesterday. God has big plans for me tomorrow. The Holy Spirit will be with me come what may. In Jesus' name, amen.