the poverty of the poor is their ruin.” NRSV
How much money is enough?
California has a lottery. Actually, California has a number of lotteries: daily lotteries, weekly lotteries, scratchers, bingos. It goes on. And it’s common to hear someone say, “When I win the lottery, I will . . . “ Unfortunately, the stories being gathered about most lottery winners (whether in or out of California) aren’t optimistic:
“One Southeastern family won $4.2 million in the early '90s. They bought a huge house and succumbed to repeated family requests for help in paying off debts. The house, cars and relatives used up all their winnings. Eleven years later, the couple is divorcing, the house is sold, and they have to split what is left of the lottery proceeds. The wife got a very small house and the husband has moved in with the kids. Even the life insurance they bought ended up getting cashed in. . . .
“These sad-but-true tales are not uncommon, experts say. . . . ‘In our culture, there is a widely held belief that money solves problems. People think if they had more money, their troubles would be over. When a family receives sudden money, they frequently learn that money can cause as many problems as it solves’” (http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/20041108a2.asp).
How much money is enough?
Matthew Henry has an interesting commentary on this verse:
“[These verses can be taken] as a representation of the common mistakes both of rich and poor, concerning their outward condition. (1.) Rich people think themselves happy because they are rich; but it is their mistake: The rich man’s wealth is, in his own conceit, his strong city, whereas the worst of evils it is too weak and utterly insufficient to protect them from. It will prove that they are not so safe as they imagine; nay, their wealth may perhaps expose them. (2.) Poor people think themselves undone because they are poor; but it is their mistake: The destruction of the poor is their poverty; it sinks their spirits, and ruins all their comforts; whereas a man may live very comfortably, though he has but a little to live on, if he be but content, and keep a good conscience, and live by faith.”
King David, a man who lived at times in his life with both prosperity and poverty wrote this:
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold and my refuge,
my savior; you save me from violence.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies” (2 Samuel 22:2b-4 NRSV).
We have to ask ourselves, which would we rather have as our fortress, wealth which is fleeting or God Who is eternal?
“Then he [Jesus] told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God’” (Luke 12:16-21 NRSV).
In God’s economy, wealth is meaningless. Material prosperity is the easiest of all miracles for God to do; it is fleeting and, in the end, means nothing if we die without reconciling to Him.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21 NRSV).
© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).
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