Scripture – “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”
Proverbs 23:4-5 NIV
Observation – God is clearly telling us in this passage not to wear ourselves out to get rich and not to trust in our own cleverness. He tells us that wealth can disappear quickly. Everyone needs money to live and God tells us throughout scripture to work with all of our hearts, to work with excellence, that all hard work brings a profit, that in the house of the wise there are choice food and oil, that God provides wealth and adds no trouble to it and the says that the borrow is servant to the lender. How to we reconcile Proverbs 23:4-5 with the verses above? If you work with all your heart and work with excellence you will make a good living and will acquire some level of wealth. God is instructing us not to wear ourselves out or to trust in our own cleverness in the pursuit of wealth. Matthew 6:25-34 describes how God wants us to live and what to avoid in this life. If you having nothing left mentally or physically to give to God, your family, your community or even to take care of your health because you are obsessed with wealth you are wearing yourself out and trusting in your own cleverness. This is not God’s plan.
Application – Work as hard as you can while you are working. When the gun goes off in the morning work hard, when it goes off at the end of day go home and serve others and trust that God will take care of you even if you don’t work 80 hours a week.
P – Dear Jesus, I pray for people who aren’t obeying you in this area, that truly believe, “if it’s to be it’s up to me” I pray they would learn to trust you and to seek your kingdom and your righteousness and watch how you give them everything they need. Amen.
What are you doing? Do it better 