Proverbs 23:4-5 — Wise Saying #8

READ THIS: Proverbs 23:4-5, Wise Saying #8

4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. 5 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.

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

In short, the minute you start to tire yourself out in the hopes of getting rich is the same minute that getting rich is impossible. 

Like many of these sayings, there are a few interpretations of this verse. Here are two of them:

• Quite literally, when you make money your goal, suddenly you can't seem to ever get enough money. It's always just out of your reach. Some people would then respond and say, "well, obviously that's not true because look at all the ridiculously wealthy people who got there because their goal was money." True, true. But, how many of those ridiculously wealthy people have decided that what they have is enough, and so they will stop chasing more money? Not many. The perfect amount of riches they want is just out of reach all the time. The thought of "if I just get one more 0 on my paycheck, I'll be happy" reoccurs each time there's a 0 added. The riches they want just keep seeming to fly away; the goal post always moving. 

• More figuratively, when you make money your goal, you will never obtain real riches. When you look at money and treasure and things and decide that that those are the real riches, the real riches of relationship with God, others, and creation flies away. This rings true if you look at people who spend their lives chasing money. Every overtime hour at the office is another missed dinner, missed soccer game, missed service opportunity, missed moment. (***Important....we are called to work excellently as for the Lord, and doing so often leads to putting in overtime and being diligent beyond our duties, besides God works through us at work/school just as much as He does at home. BUT it is easier to find a happy medium between what God has for us at work and what He has for us at home/church/recreation when the goal is not money but rather pursuing God and what His best is for our lives!)

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. How often do you think about money/riches? What are the reasons that you think about money?

2. How does trusting our own cleverness/abilities tie into wearing ourselves out for money? What's that have to do with our relationship with God?

 

TRY THIS:

Figure out how much money you have right now at the moment and ask God if there is anything different that you are supposed to be doing with that amount of money. He might not give you any direction...but maybe He will...you ready to act on it?!?!?! (duh duh DUUUUH)