Proverbs 27:2 ¶ Let another man praise thee, and not thine
own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.
In the part of the Bible written to Christians
for doctrine by Paul under the wisdom given to Him by God (2 Peter 3:15), given
by inspiration from God (Job 32:8; 2 Timothy 3:16), with understanding which is
synonymous with wisdom as something that goes hand in hand with it (Job 39:17;
Proverbs 2:6), it says this;
2Corinthians 10:18 For not he that commendeth
himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.
All self-praise and boasting are trash. Let your
work be such that others may praise you but do not extol yourself. All glory is
to the Lord anyway. We have heard this self-praise time and time again and
often mistake such boasting as confidence when actually the person is merely
trying to convince himself that what he has done is great or sell you on what
he or she has done. As with the arrogant and proud what we are really looking
at and hearing is a weak, little person trying to convince others of how
important they are.
Matthew Henry includes in his commentary the
Latin saying; “Proprio laus sordet in ore—Self-praise defiles the mouth.”
We know Christians who brag about everything
from their church attendance to how well they’ve raised their children and yet,
those of us who actually believe the Bible know that it is only God’s mercy and
grace that has given them both the ability to attend church and the blessing of
a well behaved child. In fact, most of the people who brag about their child
rearing ability, those who boast about it, did not raise their children with
daily devotions, Bible reading, and prayer. But God was merciful.
And yet, we brag. If I hear one more “I’ve
always tried to do the right thing,” I might just scream. No, you haven’t.
You’re human. Most often you choose to do the wrong thing and in most of your
decisions you did not seek God’s counsel anyway. Stop praising yourself and get
on your knees and praise a most merciful and gracious Creator and Sustainer for
the fact that your sexual morals, your tendency to substance abuse, and your
life of self-worship as a young person didn’t result in your early death and
that you are even conscious and not on life support or, worse, on death row.
It is not fitting for a Christian not to give God all the
glory and to praise his own efforts at all. It’s also probably not fitting for
them to glorify in others who do praise themselves whether it be the football
player who dances in the end zone or the fighter who climbs on the ring ropes
with his arms upraised for his own glory. These types of things were rarely
tolerated in sports before 1950, in any event.
So, Christian, seek God’s approval but don’t
engage in self-praise. You’re probably just a legend in your own mind, anyway.
Proverbs
27:3 ¶ A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier
than them both.
A stone can be so heavy that it takes many
strong arms to move it.
Genesis 39:1 ¶ Then Jacob went on his
journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. 2 And he looked, and
behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by
it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon
the well’s mouth. 3 And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled
the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again
upon the well’s mouth in his place.
Or an appearance (which is what an angel is
Isaiah 63:9; Judges 2:1) of God.
Matthew 28:2 And, behold, there was a great
earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and
rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
Sand, and particularly wet sand, is also very
heavy and weighty (notice how heavy and weighty are synonyms based on the way
they are used in context in our Proverb.)
Job 6:3 For now it would be heavier than the
sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.
So, the fool’s wrath weighs him down and
destroys him and sometimes those around him.
Job 5:2 For wrath killeth the foolish man,
and envy slayeth the silly one.
In the Middle Ages there was a torture and
execution method known as peine forte et dure where a person was crushed slowly
under a great weight. Christian martyrs were sometimes pressed to death in this
way as related in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. In some Muslim countries today
homosexuals are crushed to death.
A fool’s abiding wrath is heavier than the
stones that killed prisoners in olden days and now. It weighs heavy in his
heart like Nabal’s and will result in his death (1 Samuel 25:3, 37.) A fool has
a hot temper, gets angry quickly, and has trouble controlling his wrath.
Remember, that wrath is anger when it has boiled into action.
Genesis
49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was
cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
Hosea 13:11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.
Although, like fierce and cruel, wrath and anger
are fairly synonymous.
Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let
not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Who of you boasts of having a short fuse, a hot
temper? “Oh, I’m quick to get angry but also quick to forgive and forget,” you
say? You are a fool.
Proverbs 12:16 A fool’s wrath is presently
known: but a prudent man covereth shame.
Get on your face before Almighty God and plead
with Him to deliver you from such foolishness and evil. Curb your wrath, learn
to turn it over to God. Read the Bible and pray for God to change you with it.
God is not pleased with your wrath, fool. Must He deal with you now and
chastise you for your evil ways?
James 1:19 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath
of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
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