The group of counsels before us is leveled at self-confidence, which takes the place of dependence on God, the first principle of the life of faith which the enemy seeks to annul whether for earth, in Messiah's kingdom by and by, or for heaven as with Christians. Yet we need also to be on guard against folly and ill feeling, and to welcome the plain truth as real kindness.
“Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Let another praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger and not thine own lips.
A stone [is] heavy and the sand weighty; but a fool's vexation [is] heavier than them both.
Wrath [is] cruel, and anger outrageous; but who [is] able to stand before jealousy?
Open rebuke [is] better than hidden love. Faithful [are] a friend's wounds; but an enemy's kisses are profuse” (vers. 1-6).
Very vivid is the word in James 4:13-1613Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 16But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. (James 4:13‑16) in its appeal to beware of similar boasting. “Go to now ye that say, To-day and to-morrow we will go into this city and spend a year there, and trade and make gain, ye that know not what [shall be] on the morrow. What [is] your life? For ye are a vapor, appearing for a little while, and then vanishing away; instead of your saying, If the Lord will, and we live, we shall also do this or that. But now ye glory in your boastings: all such glorying is evil.” In these moral matters both the O.T. and the N. bring in the Lord to judge and displace self.
Then again the O.T. saint knew quite enough of his failure and of his need of sovereign grace to banish high thoughts of himself, and to attribute every right word to God. How inconsistent to sound his own praise! how becoming to be silent as to any good on his part. If a stranger praised him, it was more than he deserved. Here too the N.T. reveals the truth more deeply in Christ for lowliness of mind, esteeming one another as more excellent than ourselves, not as a sentiment but as a living truth of faith.
There is however the other side to try our hearts. We can not, ought not to regard “a fool's vexation” with complacency, but feel its grievous impropriety. “A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty,” little as its particles be. But that, groundless as it is, exceeds both in its dead weight and intolerable unbecomingness.
Nor has one to face before God such frivolous complaints only, but also the cruelty of wrath and the outrageousness of anger; for surely the sun ought not to set on either outburst or reserve in this way. But there is another evil feeling still more unworthy and dangerous: “Who is able to stand before jealousy?” Let us look up for grace to value anything good in another, and the more if conscious that we claim not that particular good ourselves. To allow jealousy in ourselves, or to let others insinuate it, is to give room to the great enemy.
It is the property of real love, to prove its activity: if it abide hidden when called to speak or work according to the heart, it betrays self rather than true affection. Even if there be a faultiness, love is bound to give “open rebuke.” Indifference passes for much in this world, but it is the reverse of love, and cares for self, when it hides to spare danger and yet pretends affection.
A friend's wounds, on the contrary, are faithful, for God's will is thus done, even though misunderstood and resented for a while. An enemy betrays himself by the very profuseness of his kisses. God is not in such a display, but too often no more than partizanship in a human cause.