27 Do not boast about tomorrow,
For you do not know what a day may bring forth.
2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
A stranger, and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy and the sand weighty,
But the provocation of a fool is heavier than both of them.
4 Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood,
But who can stand before jealousy?
5 Better is open rebuke
Than love that is concealed.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But [a]deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
7 A sated [b]man [c]loathes honey,
But to a famished [d]man any bitter thing is sweet.
8 Like a bird that wanders from her nest,
So is a man who wanders from his [e]home.
9 Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
So a [f]man’s counsel is sweet to his friend.
We ended Proverbs 26 talking about false praise, and we start right into it again. Except now it isn’t the false and empty flattery of someone trying to manipulate you. Possibly more dangerous is being puffed up and praising your own works. Instead, Solomon says to let someone else praise you, and keep your mouth shut.
That’s difficult enough, but verses 5-9 speak to something even more important. Which is the difficulty of accepting criticism (rebuke) from our friends. Echoed again are the deceitful “kisses of an enemy”, and though we might expect praise or encouragement from our friends, what we most need is their counsel.
A good friend doesn’t sugar-coat everything and ignore the areas we need to improve. How do we react to the “wounds of a friend”? Are we defensive, or do we look inward to see how we can improve? We ought always to ask God to examine our hearts, and He may just use a good friend to get the message through.
On the flip side, it can be just as difficult to correct a friend. We may be afraid of that reaction, so we hold back, but good counsel and a loving rebuke are sweet like oil and perfume. We need God’s help on both ends, to give us the words to help our friends, and to have the grace to accept correction. Not one of us is perfect, and we ought to be “iron sharpening iron” instead of a bunch of blunt plowshares. May God help us all to be friends of iron, as we allow Him to mold and shape our hearts.