Many times I have heard people ask the question, “Why does God not bless me with massive amounts of money?”… I’m not ashamed to admit that I have wondered that in the past, as I’m sure a lot (if not all) of us have asked the same or similar questions at some point.
Now there are all kinds of answers to that question ranging from the hard “God wants us all to be poor and humble on this earth”, to the extremely soft “it will all happen in God’s time”. And to be perfectly honest, none of those answers are Biblically correct.
Many years ago I searched for an answer, and when I never found one I became frustrated for a while and just sort-of gave up on it all. I assumed that if God desired for me to be rich, He would drop money in my lap, and I went on with my business, never giving it another thought after that.
One day however when I was just reading through some random scriptures, I came across Deuteronomy 8:18 which states:
“But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.”
At first I shrugged it off without really paying attention to what was actually being said. I remembered the frustration I had before when trying to unravel the mysteries of wealth and God.
Yet when I read it over again and gave a more fine eye to the details of the scripture, I discovered the following truth: The scripture does not say that God gives wealth to people; what it actually says is that God gives people the power to get wealth!
Now I know that some have heard this verse before and it is taught in many places today that what this means is that God gives men through hard-work, planning, self-sacrifice and patience the power to generate wealth. But this also is not the case.
You see my friends, if it meant that we would generate wealth by our own sweat and sacrifice and tears and hard-work, then it would not be a “gift” from God, it would instead be to our own glory and not His. The power that He gives us to get wealth, is the “Blessings of God”. Take a look at Proverbs 10:22:
“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”
Right now, some of you may be wondering this in your minds: “James, what about all those people who were born into luxury or those that have won the lottery? They haven’t had to work for their wealth. And I’m sure they aren’t all followers of Christ.”
But take another look at the last part of Proverbs 10:22 again… He adds no sorrow to His blessing of wealth.
Many wealthy people that I have seen find no pleasure in their wealth. Their bank accounts are massive and their mansions are filled with things, but they are utterly lacking in peace and joy. Yet as we can see from the scripture we just read, it is a blessing from the Lord when we attain riches with no sorrow added to them.
Also those who have had to work for their wealth, breaking their own backs and through blood sweat and tears, they are usually the ones who glory in their own accomplishments instead of giving the glory where it truly belongs.
Please don’t misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with working a job and earning money, but it should never be a laborious struggle filled with hardship and pain and depression. And the only way for it not to be is if Christ is involved in your life.
Always remember that when it is the blessing of God, no sorrow will ever be added to it. If your job is nothing but sorrow, ask the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom on what to do, He may tell you to leave and provide a more blessed job for you. But trust Him regardless of what He says, and you will find yourself walking the right path of blessings as a follower of Christ.
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