25.150 | Do Not Boast About Tomorrow | Prov 27:1 | God’s Word for Today with Pastor Nazario Sinon

God’s Word For Today

Text: Prov 27:1 ESV

1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

-Prov 27:1 ESV

DO NOT BOAST ABOUT TOMORROW

No human being can infallibly predict what will happen in the future. Some occurences in life are predictable like sunrises and sunsets. Certainly, most are uncertain and unpredictable. A wise person do make plans, don’t they? (Prov 16:3; 20:18; 24:27) But, they must take their fallibility and humanity into account. Making well-reasoned choices is different from arrogantly ignoring risks. Otherwise, he will be found boastful.

The word "boast" translates a Hebrew root word rendered as "praise" later in this passage (Prov 27:2). This means no one should praise himself for what he hasn't yet accomplished. A popular statement warns "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched," no one can be sure that all eggs necessarily become birds. The things our human minds expect to happen might not happen, so we shouldn't speak of them as absolute guarantees.

Such is the attitude criticized by the apostle James (Jas 4:13–16). He said, “13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

He explains, "You do not know what tomorrow will bring" (v.14). Life is not only uncertain, but it is also brief. Rather than having presumptions and overconfidence, we should approach the future with a sense of humility. "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that" is a better attitude (Jas 4:15). Thus, Solomon warns us to trust God and not our hearts. He said,

“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths.

7 Be not wise in your own eyes;

fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.”[Prov 3:5-7]

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