Proverbs 23:4-5 NIV Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. (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.
Wearing ourselves out to get rich. Isn’t this how many people live today? We are tired, exhausted, from trying to get riches in this world, to enjoy the pleasures of life. It doesn’t matter where you are from – everybody wears themselves out to get rich. It's like the battle cry of this world.
This is why we enjoy watching movies, documentaries, interviews of people who have gone “from rags to riches”, from having almost nothing to enjoying financial and material gain in life. This is what makes us click on those advertisements in social media that promise us easy riches, or what makes us attend seminars from motivational teachers about how to become rich and successful. This is what attracts us to prosperity preachers, promising us that God does not want us to live in poverty.
This is the driving force in many parents’ hearts. We tell our children to study hard so they can get a good job in the future, so that they can get us out of poverty. How many of us parents have made it a life mission to work hard so that our children will not experience the poverty or hardship that we had in life. It is a noble desire, no question – but is this wisdom from God? Is this what God wants us teaching our children? Is this the way God wants us to live?
One teaching that God taught His people, which is consistent in Scripture, is that of contentment.
Deuteronomy 8:2-4 NIV Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. (3) He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (4) Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
Can you imagine eating manna, bread that miraculously came out of the ground every morning, for forty years! It is no wonder the Israelites kept complaining and grumbling. But what was the Lord teaching them? That man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Look at verse 4 – for forty years their clothes and sandals did not wear out. And yet do we see the people of God thanking Him for it? There is no clothing or shoe brand that can promise that to us today. Only God’s promises come true.
Solomon, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote this proverb in the fear of God. (4) Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. (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. Sadly, he fell victim to the lures of the flesh and the world, and went against the wisdom of God that he himself taught. Later on he would write:
Ecclesiastes 2:8-11 NIV (8) I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well--the delights of the heart of man. (9) I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. (10) I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. (11) Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 NIV But
godliness with contentment is great gain. (7) For we brought nothing into the
world, and we can take nothing out of it. (8) But if we have food and clothing,
we will be content with that. (9) People who want to get rich fall into
temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men
into ruin and destruction. (10) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of
evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced
themselves with many griefs.
The motive of working hard to spare our children from the poverty that we lived in the past may sound like a noble one at first, but it eventually robs us, and our children, from the wisdom of God’s word that we need to have in our hearts, and instill upon our children. What is that wisdom? That godliness with contentment is great gain! That people who want to get rich fall into temptation and into a trap! That the love of money is the root of all evil.
Should we not be showing our children, and teaching them,
that contentment, and trusting in God's Word, is the way God wants us to live?
Should this not be the very wisdom that guides and guards our hearts everyday – that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God?
If God said that He is faithful, and will provide for our needs, should we not be trusting Him?
If God said that He is our Shepherd, and that we will not want, and that He will bring us to green pastures and quiet waters – should we not be trusting Him for this?
If God said that the love of money is the root of all evil,
should we not be guarding ourselves from it?
Our Lord Jesus also said:
Matthew 6:31-34 NIV So do
not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What
shall we wear?' (32) For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them. (33) But seek first his kingdom and
his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (34) Therefore,
do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
enough trouble of its own.
Pagans run after all these things - what we will eat, drink and wear. God's people seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. This is what we should be running after, wearing ourselves out for. And what does our God promise? All these things – what we will eat, drink and wear - He will give them. He will take care of us.
If a Christian is to wear himself out it should be because He is seeking God's kingdom and His righteousness. A Christian wearies himself out for God and His Word, to live as God wants Him to live, a life that is pleasing to God.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 NIV Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. (18) Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. (19) In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Let us wear ourselves out for the life that is truly life.
