It started in Psalm 73, I wanted to read it last night but got a phone call from a friend who needed some encouragement. This morning I am taking time to read, which is rare these days, but since the kids are at daycare the Lord has granted me some time to read and study His word. Let me see if I can connect the pieces today.
While reading through Psalm 73 in the Leadership Study Bible (NIV) I found on my bookshelf, verse 12 put me on pause... "This is what the wicked are like - always carefree, they increase in wealth." It's been a hard season financially for us, maybe that's why I was wondering how the wicked can simply increase in wealth in a carefree manner... oh to be carefree like a child again. Forget about being wicked, that's not my jam.
Beside each verse of this particular Bible is a corresponding verse. Psalm 73:12 references Psalm 49:6, which says, "those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?" this verse is midsentence, so we have to go back to the beginning of it, which is the verse prior, to gain better understanding of what's being said. "Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me - those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?" (Psalm 49:5-6 NIV). Again we see that the wicked are wealthy, but this time, the one who trusts in and reveres the Lord, does not have to fear the evil days their faced with. Those evil days are when the wicked deceivers surround them.
Next to Psalm 49:6 was the reference to Job 31:24, but again the surrounding verses needed to be read, so I will quote from Job 31:24 and 28, "If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, "You are my security"... then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high." Job was being accused that he had trusted in his wealth, and that is why he was in the dyer state that we find him in, but here he is defending his case knowing that God is sovereign over all and it would be a sin to place his trust in anything other than God. It makes me consider God is so much greater than gold, we cannot find true security in the material or monetary possessions of this world.
Which leads us to the next verse referenced, from Job 31:24 we are taken over to Job 22:25, "then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you." Once again, we are midsentence, but in this case, the lightbulb went off and I was strongly reminded that God himself is my source. I never knew the Word of God called God gold! How cool is that? He's our provider of good things, and He Himself is the good thing we need! The verse being midsentence still led me to read the whole passage, so from verse 21 to 30, I basically gathered that when we follow in God's ways and delight in Him, He hears our prayer and will deliver us. Going back to the concept of wealth, in Job 22:21 it plainly states, "Submit to God and be at peace with Him; in this way prosperity will come to you." God tells us the keys to wealth, and it's through obedience and submission to Him.
But it's not over, Job 22:25 then led me to Isaiah 33:6, which moves away from earthly wealth but it still speaks of treasure. Isaiah 33:6 says, "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure." Salvation and wisdom and knowledge money cannot buy, but for those who have it, they are rich.
The treasure we have in Christ is a mystery; God has made it so that salvation came through His Son so we could be in relationship with Him. And when we have Christ in our hearts, therein lays the treasure in earthen vessels, as it says in 2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."
My encouragement to you, dear reader, is to get a physical copy of the Bible and just spend time in the Word. The Lord can show up in ways we never expected and we can grow and leave changed by the power of His Holy Spirit. God bless.
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