Money can't buy me life!

Proverbs 11:4 & 28

v. 4: "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.”

v. 28: “He who trusts in riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like foliage.”

  The term translated here as riches can mean wealth and money, but it also implies the life of ease that wealth and abundance supplies. The phenomenon that those who always have sufficient amounts of money seem to have a life free of angst and worry is real. It seems that these types of people in these types of situations almost have to contrive drama, so they have something to get excited about! They become so used to everything going well for them all of the time, their hearts begin to trust that things will always go well for them. This is actually a hinderance to them according to this verse. We can also observe this in the world around us. So many times we see those who are in this situation and they have no practical understanding of the hardships that the rest of society is facing. We see that they cannot do anything on their own and that they are much more subject to mental breakdowns. The reason for this is because they have never had to face anything and therefore do not know how to face anything. 

    In these beginning of the end of days, many people who have never relied on the Lord for their sustenance, their health, their very lives will attempt to purchase these things as they have always done. Take for instance the rich young ruler who approached Jesus who had {according to his own words} kept all of the laws Jesus mentioned to him from his youth. Jesus told him that he lacked one thing- it is implied by our Lord that the one thing lacked there was giving up what he trusted in {money}and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ to inherit eternal life. Further, take for example the parable of the ten virgins… they too attempted to purchase oil enough to last until the appearance of the bridegroom. They were unwilling to invest in that which would sustain them when they had the opportunity to do so and therefore were too late when it mattered. Just as in these two stories, today, as it is now with the world wide demands on social distancing and wearing of PPE, there are those who believe they will be safe from the attack of Covid-19 if they wash their hands enough with antibacterial soap, if they diligently keep away from others, if they wear masks in public, if they keep their hands gloved at all times. The truth, however, is that whatever you fear will come upon you because the wrath of the enemy knows no loyalty. He will attack anyone if they give him the chance. This is a very clear and a very pointed understanding of Proverbs 11:4. Do not think that the wrath referred to in verse 4 simply refers to the wrath that will be poured out on the earth after the rapture of the church by God. It does indeed refer to that, but it also refers to the wrath of the wicked one. Wrath is wrath and no amount of money can save someone from it. Whether we think about the wrath of God or the wrath of the wicked one, only righteousness avails any safety. In the case of the Wrath of God, the believer being God’s righteousness will cause that believer to be extracted from the earth realm at the return of the Messiah and therefore the verse is fulfilled. In the case of the wrath of the wicked one, the believer being God’s righteousness places a spiritual mark on the believer wherein the wicked one cannot harm the believer and thus the verse is fulfilled! Riches and ease of life have absolutely no bearing in the deliverance of the believer in either situation.

    The righteous of God flourish from their roots like foliage. The outside elements can and do affect them superficially, but they continue to live and to thrive from the ground up. This is the truth of Proverbs 11:28. It is as our Lord Jesus expressed it. Those who trust in riches truly believe that they are their own source and therefore will usually fail to trust God to be their source. In this is their downfall. However, those who trust God can sustain torrential rain, gale force winds, blistering heat and freezing cold and still retain their lives inside their own root system as the foliage does!