Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 331 · November 27
Iron Sharpeneth Iron
“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”
Sharpening removes metal. It is loud, it throws sparks, and the blade that comes off the stone is smaller than the one that went on.
That is the picture Proverbs picks. Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Countenance is the odd word, and it is the plain Hebrew for face, which is where a person's meaning shows before he says it. Two verses later the chapter comes back to the same place from another angle: As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. And the neighbourhood is not sentimental about friends. He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. Praise at the wrong volume and hour lands as an insult.
There is one person who has already told you something you would rather not have heard, and who has been careful with you ever since. Go back and ask him what he did not say. Sit through the answer without repairing it, and let the room be as loud as sharpening is.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 331 is Eternal Light and Reign (Revelation 22:5).