Proverbs 27b

27: 1. Do not boast about tomorrow

For you know not what a day may bring.

 I like to keep a calendar. At my age, I can’t keep all my doctor and dentist appointments in my head, let alone the lunch and dinner dates. Then there is the array of due dates for paying bills: credit card payments, insurance payments, and monthly loan payments. I even check and write down on my calendar my bank account balances each morning. All that gives me a sense of order, maybe even the illusion of control. I have even less control over things not written there.

 The things not written include some little things; an unexpected text message, an annoying traffic delay, or thunderstorms that were not predicted. Then there are the occasional big things; a loved one turns up sick, a friend calls with news of a stroke, a family member has a traffic accident. That’s when the old song rings true: "’C'est la vie’, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell” (Chuck Berry). 

 These things arrive as a shock, particularly when I think I am in control and least expect to find out that I’m not. Perhaps that is what the first phrase means: “Do not boast about tomorrow….” The key word is ‘boast’. To boast is to pretend that we are in control, we will make these things happen…when tomorrow comes. 

James, the brother of Jesus, updates this Old Testament message. 

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits sin” (James 4: 13-17). 

Perhaps he heard Jesus say: 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life….  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today”

(Matthew 6: 25, 33-34).

Of course, when things go wrong, we sometimes try to save face by dressing up and pretending that everything is alright. But, that separates the inside from the outside–and the result is not good, as another verse in this chapter says. 

27: 9. Perfume and incense make the heart glad,

But the soul is torn by trouble. 

A better response is to actually take care of business today, prepare as best you can, and leave tomorrow in God’s hands. The closing verses of this chapter say as much. 

27: 23-24. Know well the condition of your flocks,

and give attention to your herds,

for riches do not last forever,

     nor a crown for all generations.