“But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”-Deuteronomy 8:18
Let’s face it.
Next to sexual pleasure, it is money more than anything that is sought after and worshipped in our day.
It is without a doubt the God of this age.
Men (and women) will cheat, lie and even kill for it.
Others will ruin their health and family lives to acquire it and get rich.
Personal development and business gurus will rake in millions of dollars in cash by simply claiming if you follow my method or take my program, you too can become rich.
On both Amazon and Google, next to the words “sex” or “porn“, the phrase “how to become rich” is one of the most searched phrases on the internet.
Whenever I sit down for a chat with my dad, my friends or anyone, invariably the conversation will turn to talk about money, how to make more of it, who’s making how much and then asking me directly or indirectly “How much are you making?“.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with making money and lots of it.
Money is important.
Actually, let me rephrase that: MONEY IS VERY IMPORTANT.
For example, if your mother is sick and she needs to undergo some expensive medical treatments, it is only money that is going to pay for that treatment.
However, there is a HUGE AND KEY DIFFERENCE between the Biblical view of how to get money and the world view.
The Bible makes it clear that God is the source of all wealth.
It is God who decides and predetermines who will become rich and who will not.
I once heard one Rabbi say…
“If God wants you to be rich, you could sell garbage and become a millionaire. And if God does NOT want you to be rich, you could sell the most precious diamonds in the world and still end up homeless.”
I think there’s a lot of truth to that statement.
And it makes sense, because the truth is some people just can’t handle having a lot of money.
There’s a reason a lot of lottery winners commit suicide after their money runs out.
The world wants us to believe that we have the power within ourselves to become rich if we so choose to do so.
Heck, the most popular personal development book in the world is called Think And Grow Rich and one of the most popular proverbs from that book, one that has been practically immortalized is the notion of “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve”.
However, contrast that with Deuteronomy 8:17 which says:
“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”
Moses is going out of his way to let Israel know that everything they experienced in the wilderness was to teach them to trust God.
God’s people are being warned that they are never to think that the wealth they have comes from their own efforts.
Moses makes it clear in no uncertain terms that any riches they have is from the Lord and is based on a promise that God made to the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In other words, the riches and wealth Israel is going to receive is 100% grace…nothing less and nothing more.
If Israel ever does forget that it is their God who is the source of their abundance and becomes prideful, destruction will come to them just as it is going to come to the heathen nations and all of the Canaanites who are going to be kicked out of their land.
There’s another interesting takeaway I’m getting from this lesson.
When wealth comes from God, it comes as a stress-free blessing.
However, attaining wealth the world’s way seems to come with a high degree of collateral damage.
This reminds me of something I read which said one of the top regrets of the dying is that they worked too hard.
For example, Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart apparently uttered “I blew it” as his last words despite an estimated wealth at his death of $65 billion.
Sam was definitely dedicated to his business which gave him immense fame and fortune but when it came to the other parts of his life such as family and friends, sources tell us he wasn’t nearly as dedicated.
He may have had the wealthiest pockets but the poorest soul.
In the very last dying seconds of his life, he realized he had failed at what is truly important in life.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“For we brought nothing into the world,
and we can take nothing out of it.
But if we have food and clothing,
we will be content with that.
Those who want to get rich fall into temptation
and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires
that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
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.”
1 Timothy 6:8-10
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER NINE
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