Readings for today: 1 Kings 10-11, 2 Chronicles 9, Proverbs 30-31
“Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?" or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:8-9)
Today demonstrates why it is so good to read the Bible chronologically. Juxtaposing these verses from Proverbs over and against the reign of Solomon provides a striking image for us to reflect on. We tend to think of wealth as a blessing from God. We rejoice when our ship comes in. We are thankful to live in beautiful homes. Drive nice cars. Take nice vacations. Build plenty of wealth to retire on and enjoy the twilight years of life. What we fail to consider are the very real spiritual dangers that accompany such wealth. After all, Jesus wasn’t joking when He said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25)
Solomon was fabulously wealthy. During his reign, Israel enjoyed a period of great peace and prosperity. The economy was strong. Unemployment was down. Silver was so plentiful it ceased to hold any value. His annual income was astronomical. 666 talents of gold equals almost 40,000 pounds of gold each year. An ounce of gold on the current market is almost $1,300 dollars. $1300x16x40,000 = $832 million dollars per year! Incredible! No wonder he overlaid everything with gold! No wonder he sat on an ivory throne! But with all that wealth came temptation. The temptation to become self-sufficient. The temptation to become self-reliant. The temptation to forget God as the One from whom all blessings flow. And that’s exactly what happened. Solomon forgot God. Influenced by his foreign wives, he began building shrines to different gods. Trusting in his own strength, he failed to see the danger before it was too late. Unlike his father David, there is no indication in Scripture that Solomon ever repented of his sin. And though he finished his reign in relative peace, the nation would fracture after his son came to the throne.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1 Timothy 6:10) It is often said that money itself is not evil but only the love of money. This is true. However, I am a sinner. My heart is naturally oriented away from God and toward myself. Because of my fallen condition, when you put a dollar in my hand, I tend to fall in love with it. I almost cannot help myself. The more I have, the more I want. It becomes an almost insatiable appetite.
Now consider where I live. Douglas County routinely ranks among the wealthiest counties in the country. The average household income is well above six figures. This places us in the top one percent of the world’s wealthiest people. In fact, if you want to find out where you land, head over to “How Rich Am I?” and plug in your income. It will ballpark you against the rest of the world and the results may surprise you. Hopefully, they will humble you because we always have tendency to compare ourselves with those who have more than us not less. And while there are great blessings that come with such wealth, as I said above, there is also great danger. Just like Solomon, we too have a tendency to forget God. We have a tendency to be self-reliant. Self-sufficient. Self-dependent. And this results in high rates of depression, anxiety, addiction, and suicidal ideation because we simply were not designed to bear the burdens of this life without God. So where then can we find hope? If it will be harder for us to get into God’s Kingdom than a camel through the eye of a needle, then what chance do we really have? Thankfully, with God all things are possible! Our only hope is to repent of our natural, selfish greed and turn back to Him. We must give sacrificially and generously of our wealth so that it loosens its grip on us. This is God’s antidote that saves us from falling in love with money.
Readings for tomorrow: 1 Kings 12, 2 Chronicles 10