In The Broadway Musical,

In the Broadway musical, “Guys and Dolls,” there is a line where Sky Masterton (the Marlon Brando role in the film version) shares some advice that his father gave him. Sky is a gambler and the entire play revolves around a certain bet that he makes which pays off in a way he isn’t expecting. But I want to focus on that advice for a moment. He said, “Son, no matter how far you travel, or how smart you get, always remember this. Someday, somewhere, a guy is going to come to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is never broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that the jack of spades will jump out of this deck and squirt cider in your ear. But son, do not bet him, for as sure as you do you are going to get an ear full of cider.” (From Damon Runyon, “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown”)

Our enemy, Satan, often promises us "can’t lose" situations, but our enemy’s goal is precisely for us to lose. We need to learn to recognize Satan’s promises for what they’re worth--an ear full of cider. In the case of our text, it’s a bed that’s too short (Isaiah 28:20).