riches

Our president, at a recent event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, made a big point of how rich a few of his cabinet members are. He reportedly said that for those jobs, he just didn’t want a poor person.

On the surface, that makes some sense. After all, a man’s wealth might show that he has a superior understanding of business and money. Or maybe not. Look at this lesson from 1 Samuel 15:2-13:

“A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.”
“While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent ten young men and said to them, ‘Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him:
‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
“‘“Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.”’
“When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.
Nabal answered David’s servants, ‘Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?’
“David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. David said to his men, ‘Each of you strap on your sword!’ So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.”

Nabal the fool, wealthy as he was, committed a fatally stupid error, one that killed him in the end. Not by David’s hand, but by God’s.

Our country has to get over its fascination with wealthy and the wealthy. Those people are chasing goals completely different than God’s. Being smart with money has no bearing on whether a person is smart about life; in fact, you could make an argument that a singular focus on money is a mental illness that handicaps a person in life

Today I’m praying along with King Solomon (or whoever wrote the applicable passage in Proverbs) that God will grant me neither too much or too little money. I fear money is a snare I wouldn’t be able to handle.