Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Reading through the 31 chapters of Proverbs each month can give us an understanding of how to serve God.

Proverbs 27 ESV

Following are some random thoughts from Proverbs 27.

Proverbs 27:1 – There are four lessons here.

A. The similarity of James 4:13-17 justifies understanding and interpreting James as wisdom literature.

B. The believer never has the privilege of certainty about the future.

C. Because the present is what the believer has, the present is his primary responsibility.

D. There is no excuse for procrastination.

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

Proverbs 27:5-6 – Because this is an “as-so” truth, you are to understand, as a friend’s rebuke is desirable so love must be as open as the affection of an enemy falsely expressed.

5 Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Proverbs 27:8 – A young bird leaving its nest loses the support that is represented there. So a young man leaving his home leaves the support that has been so important and faces danger of which he is ignorant.

8 Like a bird that strays from its nest
is a man who strays from his home.

Proverbs 27:10 – There are three truths in this verse:

A. The longer the history of friendship the less excuse there is for betraying it.

B. In the time of immediate need a distant brother is not helpful.

C. A friend who is nearby is that which you must depend on in immediate need.

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.

Proverbs 27:22 – Folly is not cured by suffering. It is internal and only can be cured by a heart change. II Cor. 5:21.

22 Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.

Proverbs 27:23-24 – There is no certainty in last years harvest nor in a present position. Profit comes with wisdom and normal labor applied to the resources at hand.

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?