Plans Of A Servant Or A King

Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”

Seasons of suffering have a way of teaching us things we did not formerly know. One day we make our plans, and the next day our plans come crashing down in a heap on the floor. Why? Well only God truly knows. But he tells us in his word that he does not want us to boast about what we think we will be doing tomorrow. He wants to humble us by encouraging us to remember we do not actually know what tomorrow might bring.

“Do not boast about tomorrow” is a command. The verb boast can have a negative or a positive meaning. Positively it means to praise, and the form and direct object give further explanation. The Lord here commands us not to boast or praise about tomorrow. But it’s not the actual day of the week that concerns the Lord, rather about what we think we know about tomorrow. We are not to boast about what we presume to know will happen the next day, the next month, or the next year. The reason? Because the Lord reminds us “we do NOT KNOW what a day may bring”. In other words, you and I are not prophets, fortune tellers, sovereign, or omniscient. God is the only one who rightlyfully knows what tomorrow may bring. This is why James tells us “all such boasting is evil”.

James 4:13-17 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”— 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. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

We ought to hold the knowledge of our plans humbly, like a servant and not like a King. James encourages us to have a submissive attitude of heart when speaking about tomorrow’s plans. “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that”.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 24 that “heaven and earth will one day pass away.” He goes on to say neither the angels in heaven, nor himself knows the day or hour this will happen. This is humility. If Jesus himself would not boast about the plans of tomorrow, who do we think we are to attempt such a thing?