Day 740: Ill gotten or God given? - Proverbs 28 vs 19 - 27

19 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. 20 A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

21 To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong. 22 A stingy man (Hebrew: 'whose eye is evil') hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him. 23 Whoever rebukes a man will afterwards find more favour than he who flatters with his tongue.

24 Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, “That is no transgression”, is a companion to a man who destroys. 25-26 A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched. Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

27 Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse. Proverbs 28:19-27 English Standard Version

The world is full of get rich quick schemes! From lottery tickets and investments that 'guarantee' huge returns, to pastors who preach Jesus' words in Luke 6:38 to “give, and it will be given to you - good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap”, mean that if you give LOTS to them and their 'ministry' God will make you rich like them too! But what is the advice given in vs 19-20 of today's reading?

Honest hard work is a better way to God's blessing than to rush after riches! Why should that be? I'd suggest that those who rush after short cuts to becoming rich are very likely to fall into the errors he describes in vs 21-23.

Verse 21 describes the sort of person ready to take a bribe – and sometimes his price to do so is not even that high! Judas took 30 pieces of silver, many are willing to take even less to do something wrong. Verse 22 warns of the greed that grows in such people, expressed through eyeing the wrong things and not seeing people around them with real needs, and verse 23 tells how one can never trust what they say. They will try to 'butter you up' to take advantage of you rather than speak honestly. Far better to have a friend who is willing to point out things in our life that we need to change.

What is the basic flaw in such people's lives that leads them astray into doing wrong? (vs 24-27)

Their confidence and trust is in their own thinking (and desires) rather than in the wisdom that comes from God. The physical riches of the world mean more to them than the true spiritual riches God gives. (vs 25-26) It's that sort of self centred thinking that could lead to someone doing the terrible deed mentioned in vs 24! Imagine ripping off one's own parents. Some people have 'borrowed' a large amount of money from parents with no intention of ever paying it back.

Jesus gave an example of people who defrauded parents even in a religious way when He said: “God commanded, ‘Respect your father and your mother,’ and, ‘If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death. But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, ‘This belongs to God,’ they don't need to honor their father. In this way you disregard God's command, in order to follow your own teaching.” (Matthew 15:4-6)

Verse 27 sums up who gets the true riches in life. It's people who have tasted the riches of God's kindness and love to them when they were in the rags of the poverty of soul that sin brings, and who now show a similar kindness and love in the world towards others. As they share of themselves, and of their possessions, so God meets their daily needs as well.