“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).
In 1 Samuel, 9, Saul of the tribe of Benjamin was sent out by his father, along with his father’s servants, to look for their donkeys. Not finding them in their land, Saul was inclined to return to his father, but his servants convinced him to enter into a certain city where there was a prophet whom they believed could show them the way that they should go. That prophet was Samuel, and he had been told by the Lord the day before that a man of the tribe of Benjamin would be sent to him to be anointed as ruler over Israel. And there came Saul, drawing near to Samuel, and Samuel told Saul that for him was “the desire of Israel” (9:20). One day, Saul went out looking for donkeys and instead encountered the one who would the next day anoint him king over Israel.
In the days of the judges of Israel, Ruth, a widow from the land of Moab who had left her land and people to be with her mother-in-law Naomi in Naomi’s native home of Bethlehem of Judah, went out to glean heads of grain in the fields. She “happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz” (Ruth 2:3). Boaz was a near kinsmen by way of Naomi’s deceased husband Elimelech. Ruth then found favor in the sight of Boaz, and he redeemed her, marrying her as the duty of a near kinsman. God blessed them with a son Obed, who begot Jesse, who begot David, all through whom is the earthly lineage of Jesus Christ. One day, Ruth went out to glean in the fields for the necessities of life and ended up meeting her redeemer husband to be.
In Genesis 37, Joseph was sent by his father Jacob to check on his brothers and the flocks and to bring back word. He found them in Dothan, and there the brothers conspired to kill him. Being restrained by Reuben from murdering him, the brothers cast Joseph into a pit and then sold him as a slave to Midianite traders. One day Joseph found his brothers and the flocks, but he ended up being sold into slavery by those brothers.
In Job 1, several messengers brought to Job the news of several events: Job’s livestock had been stolen and his servants killed; Job’s sheep and more servants had been consumed; Job’s camels had been taken and more servants killed; and all his sons and daughters – ten in all – had been killed in the oldest brother’s house when the house fell upon them as a result of a great wind. News of each subsequent event came as the messenger of the previous event was still speaking. In one day Job received news of the loss of his property and all of his children.
All these events illustrate the truth spoken in the proverb: “You do not know what a day may bring forth.”
We often live like we have control over the events of the day and like tomorrow is coming. But we do not know what a day may bring forth. The day that breaks forth new in the morning may not go as envisioned; it may bring delights never imagined or disappointments never foreseen. While we have no power over the events, small or great, that our beyond our control, we do have power over something, and that is our own attitude and response to the events. We should have the attitude that we will with a certain peace accept whatever a day brings forth, and we should say as Job, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10). And we should strive to have the attitude and faith expressed by Paul, accepting with contentment what comes our way: “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13). Who knows what a day may bring forth? Whatever it is, for the Christian it can be well with his soul.
-Larry Jones