Monday December 09th, 2024
Meditate on Proverbs 26:28NKJV
« A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, And a flattering mouth works ruin »
Read Acts 12:20-23NLT
20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they sent a delegation to make peace with him because their cities were dependent upon Herod’s country for food. The delegates won the support of Blastus, Herod’s personal assistant,
21 and an appointment with Herod was granted. When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to them.
22 The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, “It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!”
23 Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died.
Flatterers are dangerous people.
They come like friends, but they are really enemies, even though some of them don’t know it.
In the Bible reading for today, Herod was destroyed not because he said any proud words, but because he was being flattered and did not run from the flatterers or tell them to stop.
These were people who hailed him because of what they could get from him, not because they really felt he was a great orator. Proverbs 26:28GNT says
« You have to hate someone to want to hurt him with lies. Insincere talk brings nothing but ruin »
Flatterers will ruin you if you don’t run away from them.
If you are being flattered and it feels good, you had better check yourself because the people flattering you are not your friends; they are trap-setters sent by the devil to you. Proverbs 29:5GNT says
« If you flatter your friends, you set a trap for yourself »
Someone who only tells you that you are perfect and never tells you that you did anything wrong is not your friend.
When you bring those who flatter you closer to you, that is like the bushmeat going to play in front of the hunter’s house; destruction is near. Psalm 5:9NKJV says
« For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue. »
Their inward part is not ‘ordinary wickedness’ but described as “very wickedness”.
Their throat – from where the flattery comes, is an open grave.
You are to run from such people.
When they advise you, take their advice with a pinch of salt because they don’t mean well for you at all.
Psalm 62:4 says they advise you so as to bring you down from your exalted position.
Sweet as their tongue may be, don’t take the advice of flatterers; run from them!
Application – If there is someone who is always praising you excessively, stay away from that fellow henceforth.
Author – Bishop Enoch Adejare Adeboye; General Overseer of the RCCG
Soul-restoring, mind-recalibrating Praise and Worship sessions – Evangelist Jemps Benoit ; Minister Paola Médi
Life changing Christian stories : Supernatural Stories
