WEALTH: A STATE OF MIND.

Proverbs 14:20
The poor is hated even of his own neighbour:
But the rich hath many friends.

This proverb is rich in perspectives. One of them, in its literal sense, is really a testament to the dark side of human nature. We should take notice of it and not give more value to the friendships of our comfortable days than is meet. We should not be surprised to see all our ‘friends’ disappear when the well is dry and the party is over. Penury is a great relationship sifter: those who stay with us through it are the real friends.

Another perspective lays in the realm of spiritual values. I have heard it said that the real true rich person is not the one who can spend a lot, but the one who has everything he needs and is satisfied. I have also heard it said that wealth is not to be counted by what a person has but by what a person gives.

Viewed in that light, I dare submit that such a person has many true friends. A person who is content and satisfied from the inside out is agreeable to be around. Such a person does not whine always wishing for more and for better days. Such a person doesn’t feel the need to hoard and is not afraid to share of themselves with others. Let us not forget that contentment and satisfaction are a state of mind, not a financial achievement.

As disciples of the Master, we claim to have found the pearl of great price. We claim that we have found that wealth that is more precious than anything else, but yet, we often seem to act like beggars or people who have been cheated of the best. Doesn’t that sound like the Children of Israel in the desert? They were fed with food from heaven; their water came from the Everlasting Rock; their clothes and shoes never wore out; they were carried on eagle’s wing and yet, they complained about their condition. Do we really value what we have? Do we really need more and better than what He, in His great wisdom has decided to give us?

They say that the worlds financial systems failed because of greed. Does our option to happiness fail because of greed? In these times of financial uncertainty we should reevaluate these things in our hearts and make sure that we don’t repeat history on our own lives.

THE WORD IS ITS OWN REWARD.

Proverbs 14:19
The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

Indeed in this scripture the just, the righteous, he who has on this side of the grave given his life to the works of the father, he who live under the atonement of the only Righteous One whose blood represents us in the sight of the Creator, finds comfort and final justice from the many woes of this world.

Finally justice is rendered. Finally the righteous is avenged. Finally things are right side up and the Righteous rules; the righteousness of Messiah is the commanding factor.

A friend of mine has for a long time been troubles as he had been taught about prosperity of the righteous in this age as part and parcel of making a decision for the Almighty. His situation is not financially as good as he thinks it befits the righteous so he wonders if these promises of righteous rule and prosperity are valid, or just poetry.

In the Gospel of Luke, the adversary reminds Yeshua that this present wold ha been given to him. Believers should do well to remember that. Jewish sages always taught that in this world there is no reward for following the Word; that the Word is its own reward. They teach that any other form of rewards for our good decisions in this world are reserved for the world to come when Messiah finally distributes rewards.

The Word, the torah, the indwelling of the Spirit should represent our only satisfaction in this world. Anything else is extra. Do we deserve more? I should say no. Our very breath is a gift we do not deserve.

In this day of financial insecurity, may we learn to keep things in the right perspective.

May we learn to be thankful.

May we learn in whatsoever state we are to be content, for contentment with godliness is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6).

FLEE SIMPLICITY

Proverbs 14:18
The simple inherit folly:
But the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

Our last three proverbs have one principle in common: careful scrutiny and meticulous self-evaluation are the characteristics of the righteous. Impulsive actions and superficiality are the mark of fools.

This Book where the Words of the Father are recorded, even before it found its way on sheep skins and parchments, was the first book to keep records of anything. It was the first book to be ever printed on Guttenberg’s press. This Book as suffered the most threats of any other book and according to logic should have been lost many times. Instead, it is today the most printed book and the yearly best seller. There are also more commentaries and information about this Book than for any other book. Yet, it is still the most misunderstood Book.

It seems that God certainly did His part in preserving the Book through the rage of the ages and in publishing it. What seems to have failed is our faithfulness to properly study it, all because of our simplicity. The answers to the most complicated issues of life are right there in front of our noses in the Book and yet, we do not see them. The word ‘simple’ in our text refers to one who is easily seduced and manipulated. He is easily seduced and manipulated because he doesn’t live consciously and prayerfully. Due to our simplicity and lack of depth, instead of true knowledge we, in the end, inherit folly and lies that sometimes we even claim come from the Book.

Let us cease from simplicity.

Let us turn off the entertaining media that lulls us into the sleep of death.

Let us walk for a change with the prudent.

Let us steer away from the glitter of popular preachers/speakers/entertainers and

let us learn from the sages; from the ancients whose spirit is matured by the prejudice of ignorant masses, and whose crown of knowledge is stained with the blood of martyrdom for the truth.

Let us leave behind the falsities of Babylon, Greece and Rome.

Let us walk with the Son Adam who died and rose, that we may with Him, die to our childish foolish simplicity, and rise in godly knowledge and maturity.

DISTINCTIONS

Proverbs 14:17
He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly:
And a man of wicked devices is hated.

The great majority of these proverbs teach us principles through the development of contrasts. In this proverb, the contrast is not between good and evil, wisdom vs foolishness; it is rather between two forms of evil: between one who foolishly and thoughtlessly allows his anger to vent hastily, and one who, with all due process of though, slowly premeditate his evil. The first is just foolish and only gets the reward allotted to fools, but the second incurs the hatred of every man.

The Father in Heaven is a God of distinctions. He distinguishes between righteous and unrighteous; between good and evil, between and good and good, between evil and evil. His very nature is a nature of distinction between pure and defiled, between clean and unclean, the holy and the profane. The word ‘Holy” actually means: separated; set-aside for the use of God. If our Father, which is in Heaven, makes distinctions between one thing and the other, shouldn’t we, being His children do the same?

Many, in their attempts towards political correctness and undue tolerance want to let go of all standards. They consider their successful unity with the human race dependant on their horizontal earthly relationships styles rather than on their vertical relationship with their heavenly Father. But even then, there is a difference between the person who lets go of godly standards in a hasty frustrated angry decision that he may regret later when his spirits are leveled, and the person who premeditates his rebellion with all due consciousness of thought. The first can be forgiven with a reprimand; the second leads others astray who later hate him. The first is a sin of the head, the second a sin of the heart.

All in all though, the proverb is here to warn us. As we read and acknowledge its virtue, we should stand warned and without excuses, our eyes now being opened. When our eyes are opened with the knowledge of His truth, our Master said that we become without excuse. Let us therefore learn from this great wisdom. Even though distinction is made between foolish hasty sins and those that are premeditated, let us be guilty of neither.

AN ELECTION YEAR PRAYER

Proverbs 14:16
A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil:
But the fool rageth, and is confident.

Were we not in an election year at such a pivotal time of world history, this verse would not seem so significant. The onlooker watches world events unfold and cannot help but ask:

does history repeat itself?

About two millenniums and half ago, the kingdom of Babylon was so confident in its strength and destiny. God himself wrote on its palace’ walls. The prophet came to interpret the writing. Yet the people kept on partying and arguing over petty things. They had grown to such a state of lethargy, complacency, pride arrogance that God could have appeared in all His glory and screamed at their ears, they would not have heard.

Could this scenario describe this generation? Is the world so confident in its obviously failed and broken down systems that it does not see the handwriting on the wall? That it does not hear the prophet’s call? I have heard it said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. In its deafness to God’s voice, the world want to heal its financial woes by using the same ‘toxic’ financial methods that caused it to be sick in the first place. It may work with human biology, but unlike the human body, financial systems do not develop anti-bodies.

Can any prayer be prayed? Yes. A prayer can always be prayed. The prayer I pray today is that God may give us the spirit of the Wise Man who fears from evil, and delivers us from the confident arrogance of the fool.

THE RULER

Proverbs 14:15
The simple believeth every word:
But the prudent man looketh well to his going.

We live in the age of information. We live in a time when many make their living through their much talking. They cater to those who, like the Greeks in the Aeropagus, spend their time browsing channels and the Internet constantly in search of a new thing. These people want to see a new show, hear a new sermon, by a new preacher, provoking a new revival. They want a new self-help program with a new idea born of a new concept. Once that novelty has tickled their heart, they fell that they are given what they need and they go on their merry way.

How many go astray? How many loose their way in the fickle glitter of the world? How many hear, see and receive without proving the length, the width and the height of what they are being offered? And most of all: what is the Bureau of Standard by which we measure all idea? What ruler should we use?

Yes my friend; you guessed it. What could be more appropriate for establishing truth and untruth than the Divine utterances of the Holy Book? But here lies our next problem: how can we measure all truth with the Word if we are not familiar with Its measuring system? Coming from Europe, I learned metrics and decimals. Until today I have difficulties with the feet, inches and yard system, but if want to be accurate in my measuring in this land, I must fully familiarize myself with this new system. The same applies to our hearts. Our hearts is God’s land. What comes into it has to be measured by the standards of God’s Word, but to be able to do so, we must have a working knowledge of It from Genesis to Revelation.

Let us not be therefore like the ‘simple’ who believes every word of doctrine, but let us be like the ‘prudent’ who looks well to his going, establishing everything by the standard of the Word of God.

THE WAY OF LIFE

Proverbs 14:12

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Therewith we are warned.

I had a theological discussion with a friend the other day.. I felt that my friend lacked important information on the issue at hand, and therefore was impaired in making a full intelligent judgment. When faced with that fact, as if trying to save face, he pulled out of his arsenal the only argument he had left and said, “But I know I am right because I am convinced in my heart about it.”

For millenniums, in spite of biblical evidence proving otherwise, scientists thought that the earth was at the center of the universe. They could prove it by showing the sun circling around it, but hey were wrong. Our new ability to find people’s D.N.A. continually embarrasses our judicial systems as we discover that innocent people have been falsely locked away for life and even sentenced to death. In the zeal of youth, while convinced we are so right, we are often drawn us into words and actions we often regret and have to recant at a more mature time of life. How many times does the Bible tell us the story of God’s people being so wrong, even though at the time they were led by so-called priests and prophets? Even so today, we may have learned something all of our lives, when suddenly it dawns on us that we have been taught lies (Jeremiah 16:19).

Because we are so easily deceived, whether by internal or external forces, we are not at liberty to establish what is right and what is wrong. Because of our sinful state, we are not able to define what is just and what is unjust. Because of our limited scope, we cannot understand righteousness as God understands it. Therefore to help us in our earthly walk, God gave us the Torah which is the parameter by which we establish right and wrong, just and unjust, righteous and sinful. Only the Torah gives us the right elements of judgment.

Oh, that we would return; that we would return to following the Lord; to see justice and righteousness through His eyes.

Someday soon, we will!