Proverbs 11:4
Wealth does not profit in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from mortal danger.
I’ve heard John Maxwell say that people spend the first half of their life spending their health to get wealth, then they spend the rest of their lives spending their wealth to regain their health. That was an idea that stuck with me. It really go me thinking about how I am spending my health right now. Of course, I’m not necessarily doing a great job at how I spend it…
Today’s proverb is along a similar thought. When trouble comes, when we have to endure God’s divine discipline, all the money in the world will save us from it. We could store up treasures in countries all around the world, and if we haven’t learned to live rightly, it will do us not good. God is more concerned with how we live than how much money we have. God would rather us have little in terms of worldly riches, but have wealth by his terms. He knows that if we don’t think correctly, we won’t know how to handle everything that comes with money.
But, when you are righteous, when you are living the Proverbious life, you can find deliverance from death. Of course we all must die. But we don’t have to suffer the pain of eternal death. For, in Christ, we find the opposite – eternal life.
So, it would be wise of us all to store up for ourselves treasures of righteousness, wisdom and understanding. This is the protection we need. We could spend all our earthly wealth to build walls of protection around us, and still be vulnerable to attack. We may be able to hold off the attacks of people who want to get at our riches, but we can’t hold off the attack of sickness and death. We may keep the world out, but we can’t keep God out. If God wants to teach us something, he will accomplish that task no matter what our defenses are.
