THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON · Day 5 of 14
Wealth and Its Dangers
1 · READ THE TEXT
Proverbs 30:7-9 & Ecclesiastes 5:10-15
Proverbs 30:7-9
Open in the reader →7Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: 8Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
Ecclesiastes 5:10-15
Open in the reader →10He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. 11When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? 12The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. 13There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. 14But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. 15As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
2 · UNDERSTAND
Agur makes the most balanced request in Scripture: "give me neither poverty nor riches". He fears both extremes, and explains why: too much abundance makes people forget God ("who is the Lord?"), and too much want pushes them to steal and profane the Name. The Preacher adds: whoever loves money is never satisfied by it, and the rich sleep badly precisely because of their abundance. The Bible does not condemn prosperity — it condemns the illusion that prosperity gives security. You came into the world naked and will leave naked; everything accumulated is a temporary loan.
3 · REFLECT AND ANSWER
Read the text again and answer calmly. Your answers are kept only in this browser.
- 1.What does this text reveal about who God is?
- 2.What does it show about people — and about you?
- 3.What will you do differently today because of it?
4 · LIVE AND PRAY
Practical application
Add up how much of your month goes to things you buy out of anxiety rather than need. Set part of it aside and give it to someone in need — telling no one.
Lesson prayer
Father, give me the bread I need. May abundance not make me forget you, nor lack make me dishonour your name. Amen.
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