Wisdom Calls

We continue our journey through the Old Testament seeking financial guidance from the Bible. In this episode, we focus specifically on one of the most celebrated books in the Bible - the Book of Proverbs. What does the Book of Wisdom have to say about how we should use our money. Is it all about saving for the future and being debt free or does another surprising theme take the spot light? 

Transcript

Rich Church Poor World Episode 5

Turn on your television for any period of time and you’re likely to see numerous advertisements from financial management companies. Ads of various kinds are run, but the same underlying theme usually comes to the surface, “will you have enough saved for retirement?” In the question there’s a motive to create fear or at least a sense of pressure to start thinking about retirement more seriously. Once this is established, the company can go into their sales pitch as to why you should trust them with your money above anyone else. Usually within the ad are clips of retired couples enjoying a new boat or traveling on some type of exotic vacation. 

            These companies make billions of dollars managing other people’s money and want to make sure they keep getting it. They invest millions in marketing campaigns each year and over time their efforts have been so successful that many Americans are literally living for the day they retire. Sadly, this mindset has penetrated the hearts of American Christians so severely that many of us are far more excited about retirement than heaven. 

            In addition to the heavy influence of our culture, many organizations claiming Christian principles also promote this type of thinking. They like to cherry pick verses like Proverbs 13:22, which says “Good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren” and use them to suggest the Bible supports us stashing away all our money. Of course, with the intention to give it to our children someday, not because financial security is our idol or anything like that. 

            Is saving for the future wise? Absolutely. Is being debt free better than being loaded down with debt? Without question; but statistics show American Christians prioritize these things far over tithing or helping those in need. The question we should ask ourselves is this: What does scripture put a larger emphasis on? While we can disagree over the applicability of many books in the Old Testament for modern day Christians, there is one book Christians universally celebrate as a book we should study and apply to our lives. It’s known as the book of wisdom. Of course, I’m referring to Proverbs.

            Would you be willing to take an open minded journey through the book of Proverbs with me to see if “saving for the future” is prioritized over giving to the Lord or helping the poor? Rather than cherry picking verses to prove a point, let’s go straight through the entire book and highlight the verses that offer insight to our question. After all, if we really want wisdom from above in regards to our finances it only seems fitting to take a microscope to the book of wisdom on this subject.

            As we begin the journey the first time we find a verse that relates to our question is Proverbs 3:9. It reads as follows: “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce.” It goes on to say in verse 10, “Then He will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.” Here we find a familiar promise from God - blessing in exchange for honoring Him with our first fruits. This is starting to seem like a consistent theme throughout scripture isn’t it? 

            In verses 27-28 of the same chapter we find our next bit of instruction: “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, “Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.” At first glance, we may not make a connection between these verses and our subject, but do you remember what question prompted Jesus to tell the parable of the good Samaritan? The question was “Lord, who is my neighbor?” As Jesus told the parable in response to the question we find the two leading characters did not live next door to each other. To the contrary, they were from different nations whose people despised each other. Yet the Samaritan, seeing the Jewish man in a helpless state of destitution, had compassion on him and sacrificed his time and money so the other could live. Jesus finishes the story with these instructions, “now go and do the same.”

            Finally, in chapter 6, verse 8 we get our first reference about saving for the future. In using the hard working ant as an illustration, it says “they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.” The message seems obvious - if a lean time is expected, it’s wise to be prepared for it. 

            This thought is followed up in the next verse that meets our criteria, which says “A wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace.” Proverbs 10:2. We can extrapolate from these verses the biblical principle that it’s wise to work hard “while the sun shines” so there’s enough for when work can no longer be done. So far we have two references to saving and two references to tithing and helping the poor. Let’s see if the trend continues.

            As we continue on our journey through Proverbs looking for verses that specifically address our topic, our next stop is at Proverbs 11:23 which says “Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.” We only have to go one verse further for our subject to come up again - Proverbs 11:24 repeats, “The generous will prosper; those who refresh others with themselves be refreshed.” 

            The next verse we come to that we could argue encourages saving for the future is one we’ve already referenced - Proverbs 13:22, which says “Good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren.” Now, it could be argued back that this is to be a Godly inheritance, which is far more valuable, but for the sake of this exercise we will consider it to mean a financial inheritance and count it in the “saving” category.

            Now buckle your seat belt because we are going to fly through the rest of Proverbs, and as we do, you’ll start to see a strong trend develop. Proverbs 14:5 says “It is a sin to belittle one’s neighbor; blessed are those who help the poor.” Proverbs 14:31 states “Those who oppress the poor insult their maker, but helping the poor honors Him.” Proverbs 19:17 tell us “If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord- and He will repay you!” Proverbs 21:13 warns us “Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.” Proverbs 21:26 tells us “Some people are always greedy for more, but the godly love to give!” Proverbs 22:9 says “Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.” Proverbs 28:8 warns “Income from charging high interest rates will end up in the pocket of someone who is kind to the poor.” Proverbs 28:27 says “Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to poverty will be cursed.” Proverbs 29:7 tells us “The godly care about the rights of the poor; the wicked don’t care at all.” Proverbs 29:14 states that “If a king judges the poor fairly, his throne will last forever.” Proverbs 31:8 admonishes us to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.” And the thought is continued in Proverbs 31:9, which says “Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” 

            If we go back and add up all the references to giving to the Lord, being generous or helping the poor we find 16 different times the proverbs promote these principles. In contrast, we only find 3 somewhat vague references to saving for the future. This is not to say we should not be conscientious about preparing for a rainy day, but the “book of wisdom” makes it very clear what should take priority. This lines up with what Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” 

            If we objectively breakdown the financial advice of the book of Proverbs we will come to the conclusion that without question the smartest thing we can do with our money, above all else, is give to the Lord and help the poor, which are the same thing. Remember Proverbs 19:17 tell us “If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord- and He will repay you!” and Proverbs 28:27 says “Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing.” Furthermore, Proverbs 3:9-10 promises that if we give the Lord the best of our produce, or what we might refer to as our first fruits, “Then He will fill our barns with grain, and our vats will overflow with good wine.” In other words, He will “pour out a blessing so great” we will not be able to take it in.

            Being stingy under the guise of following biblical principles  and hoarding away all our money for retirement is not what the Bible promotes. If we go through the Proverbs and cherry pick verses to advocate for this type of thinking we are only fooling ourselves. The leading principle of giving to God first and helping the poor cannot be disputed. We can choose to ignore it or apply it, but manipulating the word of God to fit into our cultural preferences is a serious business that no one should want to answer for on the day we give an account before God.

We’ve taken a similar pattern on the concept of being debt free. We pull out a verse like Proverbs 22:7, which says “the borrower is servant to the lender” and use it to convince people the Bible is strongly opposed to us having any debt. We then set these folks on a course where their whole lives are wrapped around getting freedom from debt. Don’t misunderstand, to be debt free is a wonderful thing, but isn’t it interesting how we latch onto the few verses that benefit us and ignore the abundance of verses on helping the poor and giving to the Lord? We’ve been reading the Bible with a self centered lense and have been found guilty of selectively applying the things that we think benefit us. Our priorities are completely upside down and we’ve missed the true heart of God. He longs to use us to reach the lost and relieve the suffering of the needy, but we are more concerned with achieving our own financial security and freedom and we’ve “Americanized” the Bible to justify our selfishness and gross indifference. 

            At the heart of our pursuit for financial freedom is the same motive that led to the original sin - we want to remove our dependence on God. We want to be self sufficient and self reliant. Satan uses the same old lie on us that he used to deceive Eve. Sadly, many Christians are still falling for it and we’re wasting our lives pursuing the mediocre pleasures of this world at the expense of the glorious, eternal treasures of heaven. 

            The book of Proverbs starts by saying its “purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline” and to “let those with understanding receive guidance.” Are you willing to accept this guidance and receive wisdom? Saving for retirement and being debt free are fine things, but heavenly wisdom tells us they are to come far after giving to the Lord and meeting the needs of the poor.