As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
3Wealth
and riches [are] in his house,
And his righteousness stands forever.
Here are a couple of interesting statements. Both lines of
this verse need to be pondered.
The first line, “Wealth and riches are in his house,” would
seem at first glance to be a straightforward statement of fact: When a person “fears
the Lord” he will make far better decisions, order his life with more wisdom,
maintain better relationships, and, in
general, do the kind of things which tend toward prosperity. As it says
in Prov 10:4, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” I
don’t think anyone would seriously debate the fact that much of the world’s
poverty is first of all a character problem. It is almost shocking to me, over
my lifetime, to think of how many people I have known who were very talented,
very capable, very intelligent, who could literally have been mechanical
engineers or nuclear physicists, but lived in relative ignorance and poverty
simply because they had always made the “easy” decisions. Some simply never set
about the hard work to develop their talents (like going to college) but others
chose the party life and self-destructed on drugs and alcohol. It saddens me to
see their faces parade through my mind and wonder what could have been if only they’d had “the fear of the Lord” in
their hearts and sincerely sought to do what is best – not necessarily what was
easy or appealing. The Lord only knows how many Einsteins and Beethovens have
been born and died and never made good on the talents He had given them.
So, again, when a person has been godly, the statement, “Wealth and riches [are] in his house…”is
not at all hard to understand. On the other hand, we have the undeniable
Biblical reality that faith and poverty have more often than not gone hand in
hand. “Hath not God chosen them that are poor in this world to be rich in
faith?” (James 2:5). It would be callously unkind for us to assert that poverty
is always the results of bad choices. James would imply that poverty may
actually be a benefit to most of the human race as it tends to breed faith
(James 1:9) while riches, more often than not, seem to diminish it. “It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of God” (Matt 19:24).
So, clearly (to me), while it is generally true that
godliness inclines a person toward better decisions and hence material
prosperity, when it comes to that material “wealth and riches,” this verse can
only be generally true. What is
invariably and undeniably true is that godliness leads to spiritual wealth and riches. When it comes to people of real faith,
we all know you could ask the poorest of men about his “wealth and riches” and
probably bring a smile to his face. We can all hear him say, “No, I’ve never
seemed to have two nickels to rub together, but, yes, I am a very wealthy man.”
He would tell us of the wonderful hope he has of Heaven, the joy of knowing the
Lord all day every day even as he goes about his struggling existence, about his
wonderful wife and children the Lord has given him, good friends, good
memories, and on and on. “The sounds of joyful singing and salvation are in the
tents of the righteous …” (Ps. 118:15). “The blessings of the Lord make one
rich, and He adds no sorrow with it” (Prov. 10:22).
So, I would conclude that the first line, “Wealth and riches [are] in his house” is
generally true of material blessings,
but absolutely true of the “wealth and riches” money can’t buy. I know it is
certainly true of my life. I have made a lot of bad decisions that very
predictably brought material poverty into my family’s life and, on the other
hand, when I’ve let the Word rule my decisions it has directly benefited me
financially. On the other hand, knowing the Lord and following Him (though, on
my part, doing a very, very poor job of it) has granted to me a fabulous and
almost incomprehensible wealth. I honestly don’t know, in a fallen imperfect world,
and being a fallen imperfect man, how I could hope to possibly be any more
blessed.
The Lord stepped into my life nearly 40 years ago and I took
His hand hoping somehow He would fix the mess I was. And what utterly amazes me
is, on the one hand, what a miserable follower I have been all along, while on
the other hand, He has been to me such a wonderful Lord. I could never have
dreamed just how true it would be when He said to me, “And you shall know the
truth and the truth shall set you free.”
One last thought before I quit on this first line of the
verse – it particularly strikes me how the Bible must be read in active
relationship with the Lord. What I mean is that it is easy to read it like any
other book, like something that was written down and now lies there to be read
over and considered. The Bible is the Word, the words, of the living God and is
itself alive and powerful. Some wise man once said, “To open the Bible is to
look into the face of God.” One can read it simply as words or one can read it
looking into the face of God, knowing Him and being known. The verse before is
case-in-point. If I read, “Wealth and riches are in his house,” I can assert it
is a simple statement of truth which obviously is teaching that every person
who genuinely “fears the Lord” will be rich. And I openly admit, if you read it
that way, that is what it seems to be saying. However, I am a follower of the
Most High God, I am His child and He is my Father. I love Him and He loves me.
As I read those words looking into His face, I see that little curve of a smile
and He and I both know that “wealth and riches” are something far better than
dollars in a bank account or gold chandeliers. He and I share the wonderful
thought of the real blessings, the real wealth and riches that I know I enjoy
and that I am quite assured are enjoyed by all those who “fear the Lord.” At
that same time, He and I both know that what material blessings I do enjoy came
from Him.
I don’t know if this makes sense to anyone else but I think it
is exactly what Peter was talking about when he said (of Paul’s writings in
particular) that “therein are many things hard to be understood, which ignorant
and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own
destruction” (II Peter 3:16). I have come to the conclusion that you can make
the Bible mean anything you want it to mean. I suspect God even wrote it, in a
sense, as a giant bobby-trap where, if you go to it for any reason other than
knowing Him, you will find exactly what you’re looking for, be confirmed in
your folly, and self-destruct, as Peter suggested. The only way to actually read the Bible and
know the Truth is to read it in an active relationship with God, to read it for
the purpose of knowing Him, of having a relationship with Him – in a sense,
reading it with Him … perhaps reading
it as coming directly from His heart, reading it looking into His eyes. Then I don’t
even care about all the other things it “can” mean. I only care what He means
and I’m content with that.
Just a thought from this feeble mind pondering the wonder of
our amazing Savior God.
Yes. My house is full of “wealth and riches.” And they’re
all “wealth and riches” because they came from His hand. They’re the best kind!
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