Read
23You should take good care
of your sheep and goats,
24because wealth and honor
don't last forever.
25After the hay is cut
and the new growth appears
and the harvest is over,
26you can sell lambs and goats
to buy clothes and land.
27From the milk of the goats,
you can make enough cheese
to feed your family
and all your servants.
Reflect
The old saying: “if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?” works with a number of assumptions that float just below the surface of its cheeky tone – that being smart should result in wealth, and that poor people are therefore by definition not smart. While neither assumption is necessarily true, these ideas shape many of our attitudes toward wealth.
True, many people are wealthy because they applied themselves with intelligence to a task at hand. Perhaps they saw the culture make a slight shift and sensed a business opportunity, or they spotted a house that could be renovated and they put their skill into that project. Or, as these verses say, they took whatever it was that they had – a farm in the proverb – and carefully developed it so that its productivity increased year after year until it became a robust enterprise. This kind of success requires the kind of intelligence that is a step beyond simply being smart, and we call this kind of intelligence wisdom, and such wisdom is praiseworthy.
However, there are some who make money, but a shadow of condemnation falls over their success. Why is that? Because they are not wise in the sense of the Book of Proverbs, they are instead shrewd. Shrewdness will frequently pay off. Loopholes are found in a contract and the vendor is squeezed for a few more dollars, or someone is fined because of a technical violation of a law.
To be shrewd in this way is to be perverse. It may yield wealth, a nice farm with lots of sheep. People may even say “she’s rich because she’s smart,” but the wealth does not have value before God. The poor woman whose walk is blameless is in fact the smart one, even though she is not rich, for her blameless walk will be honored for eternity.
Look beyond your earthly economic condition and seek eternal wealth by walking blamelessly before your God.
Respond
Father I desire to see beyond the fleeting riches of this world and to truly store up treasure in heaven. By your grace today let me see through the false promises of earthly satisfaction and the seduction of temporary wealth and to walk every step blamelessly before you.
Franklin Pyles
Franklin Pyles was a pastor of churches that served inner city neighborhoods, taught theology at Canadian Theological Seminary, and then was a pastor in a medium sized Ontario city. He then served his denomination, The Christian & Missionary Alliance as President for the full time allotted. He has written on C.S. Lewis and on a variety of ministry and church concerns. He continues a preaching and teaching ministry, currently at McMaster Divinity College. Publications: Most electronic and in house for the Alliance.