PROVERBS ~ "This Is How We Do It" - (Week 7) - God's Plan For Our Money

PROVERBS ~ "This Is How We Do It" - (Week 7) - God's Plan For Our Money

1. MONEY HAS SOME VALUE.
“A rich man’s wealth is his strong city; the poverty of the poor is their ruin.” (Prov. 10:15)
“A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.” Proverbs 13:22 (NIV)
• Proverbs takes an incredibly practical, realistic view of wealth. It hardly needs to be said that money is a powerful tool.

2. WANT MONEY? YOU MUST WORK FOR IT.
“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Prov 14:23
“Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Proverbs 10:4
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come on you like a robber and want like an armed man.”
(Prov. 6:10-11, see also Prov. 24:33-34)

3. DON’T FALL “GET-RICH-QUICK” SCHEME; ILL-GOTTEN GAIN COMES BACK TO BITE.
Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. (Prov. 1:19)
“Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” Proverbs 13:11 (NIV)

4. PLAN AHEAD, PLAN AHEAD, PLAN AHEAD.
Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. (Prov. 4:26)
“One who has no sense shakes hands in pledge and puts up security for a neighbor.” Proverbs 17:18 (NIV)
“The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” Prov 22:7
“Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.”
Proverbs 22:26-27 (NIV)

5. NEVER SCORN WISE ADVICE.
“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Prov. 15:22)
• You don’t know everything, but neither does anyone else. We are all limited, and sometimes we don’t even know what we don’t know. But no matter how hard that can be to admit, it is even harder to recover from a costly mistake.

6. GENEROSITY TOWARDS THOES IN NEED
IS INVESTING IN GOD’S ECONOMY.
• “Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.” (Prov. 14:31)
• “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.” Proverbs 3:27 (NIV)
• “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
Proverbs 11:25 (NIV)
• “It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.” Proverbs 14:21 (NIV)
• “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.” Proverbs 22:9 (NIV)
• “Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.” Proverbs 28:27 (NIV)
• Whoever is kind to the poor “lends to the Lord,” and he will reward them (19:17). The Lord himself will take up the case of the poor (22:22-23), blessing the generous (14:21, 22:9) and cursing those who close their hearts (28:27).

7. WISDOM IS WORTH MORE THAN MONEY.
Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. (Prov. 3:13-15)
• While money is valuable, wisdom is far more precious. Proverbs exhorts us to seek wisdom “as for hidden treasures” (2:4). It is worth more than “silver,” “choice gold,” and “rubies” (8:10-11, 16:16). Why is this? True wisdom leads us to value what is truly important.

8. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS WORTH MORE THAN MONEY.
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. (Prov. 11:4)

• Wealth is a miserable thing in which to place your trust. While money has value in this life, righteousness has value both in this life and in the one to come. Those who trust money or anything else other than the one true God will reap destruction and utter ruin (10:24, 11:28). In fact, it is better to be poor and righteous than enjoy “great revenues with injustice” (16:8). And yet, it often seems to be the opposite: there are many wicked people who prosper, while those who trust in God may live from paycheck to paycheck (see Eccl. 7:15, 8:14).

Once we have come to know God through his gospel of salvation in Christ alone through faith alone, we trust him to take care of us. We no longer need to live in fear; we can trust fully in his wise provision. As the writer to the Hebrews declares,

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Heb. 13:5-6)

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