Labour not to be rich, labour to be.........

What should a man's life work amount to? Should we work for money?

Proverbs 23:4 tells us a seemingly controversial concept,

Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

Initially, I just couldn't wrap my head around this passage. Like how and why will the bible ask us to not labour to be rich? So many questions stormed my mind,

So daily I should not work towards making riches?

Does it mean I should not invest my money and time into making more money?

What is really bad about laboring to be rich? The riches can be used to propagate the kingdom of God, right?

So what should I labour towards then?

God is obviously not against riches and investment, He's the one that can give us ".....power to make wealth" Deut 8:18, and "....can supply our needs according to his riches" Phil 4:19. And yet he does not want my daily labours to be towards riches. Riches are suppose to be secondary benefits of something greater.

So what does God want me to labour towards? The answer is found in Proverbs 10:22,

The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it

So we should seek to be blessed and the offshoot of the blessings of God is riches. Halleluyah!

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Labour not to be rich, labour to be blessed!

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It was the blessings of God upon Abraham that made him rich, David was not wealthy in a sense but the blessing of God upon him made him formidable even the rich king Saul was jealous of him. Solomon by the blessing of wisdom transformed a small country into a global powerhouse not because he inherited riches but by the blessing of God.

There is clearly a path to being blessed and scriptures state it so clearly, Deut 28:1-2, state,

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:........

The pathway to blessings begin with a covenant relationship with God. Just like with Abraham, Moses, Solomon, Samson etc, there was first a relationship God builds with his people. This relationship leads to a covenant so that by obedience to the terms of the covenant God now has a yardstick to bless. For Abraham, leaving his fathers house, accepting the covenant of circumcision, obedience to sacrifice Isaac all led to blessings. David's obedience to the terms of Kingship also led to God's blessings and for Samson, his disobedience to the terms of the Nazirite covenant led to the loss of sight and eventually his death.

So does God want us to be rich? Heaven yes! But He would rather that we be blessed. And that is why His intention is resounding and louded clearly in scriptures

Gen 1:22: And God blessed them......

1 Sam 2:20: And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife.....

Job 1:10b: .......thou hast blessed the works of his hands....

Psalms 1: Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.........

Mal. 3:12: And all nations shall call you blessed.....

Matthew 5:3-11: Blessed are ........

Rms 4:8: Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Eph. 1:3: ...blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

James 1:12: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation....

Rev. 22:14: Blessed are they that do his commandments....

You can be rich and not be blessed but you cannot be blessed and not rich!

Labour to be blessed not to be rich! Shalom