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Character traits addressed in the book of
Proverbs:
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The Importance of Wisdom
The Fear of the Lord
The Purpose and Danger of Anger
Sex and Beauty
The Value and Danger of Money and Wealth
The Importance of Work
The Danger of Pride
The Importance of Self-Control
Mending Broken Relationships
Your Plans; God’s Plans
The Power of Our Words
Dealing With Prosperity and Adversity
The Marks of a True Friend
The Value and Danger of
Money and Wealth
Proverbs
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Because the Bible gives so many
warnings about the dangers of money
and wealth, you might be tempted to
think that money and wealth are
intrinsically bad.
But the Bible has many positive things to
say about money and wealth.
The Bible describes wealth as a blessing
from the Lord:
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The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and
he adds no trouble to it. (10:22 - NIV)
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Proverbs tells us that money and wealth are the
normal reward for those who work hard and are
diligent – whereas poverty is the usual
consequence of laziness or chasing empty
dreams:
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Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands
bring wealth. (10:4 - NIV)
In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to
poverty. (14:23)
Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,
but he who follows worthless pursuits will have
plenty of poverty. (28:19)
But we need to be careful not to over generalize –
not all poverty is a result of laziness:
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A poor man's field may produce abundant food, but
injustice sweeps it away. (13:23 - NIV)
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Though wealth is generally viewed as a
blessing in Proverbs, there are many
dangers that come with wealth.
Money has the power to corrupt you and
make you greedy, or hold onto that which
you should have given to others:
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Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his
own household, but he who hates bribes will
live. (15:27)
One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
another withholds what he should give, and only
suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be
enriched, and one who waters will himself be
watered. (11:24-25).
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Money has the power to make you think too
highly of yourself:
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Money has the power to give you a false
sense of security.
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Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor
man is deserted by his friend. (19:4)
A poor man pleads for mercy, but a rich man
answers harshly. (18:23 - NIV)
Whoever trusts in his riches will fall... (11:28a)
A rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a
high wall in his imagination. (18:11)
Proverbs warns us that wealth will be of no
use to us in the Day of Judgment:
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Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but
righteousness delivers from death. (11:4)
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How does this apply to our kids?
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Help your children find ways of earning
money at an early age.
Shepherd your children into the joy of
generosity.
Teach your children how to manage their
money well at an early age.
Teach your children that having more than
someone else doesn’t make you better than
them and having less than someone else
doesn’t make them better than you.
Conversely teach them not to envy or
condemn those who are wealthy.
Dealing With Prosperity
and Adversity
Proverbs
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In a section of Proverbs written by Agur, he
asks the Lord: Give me neither poverty nor
riches, but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise,
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I may have too much and disown you and say,
“Who is the LORD?”
Or I may become poor and steal, and so
dishonor the name of my God. (30:8b-9 NIV)
In making this request, Agur wisely
recognizes that there are two kinds of
situations that bring great spiritual danger
into our life:
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Abundance, Prosperity, and Success
Deprivation, Adversity, and Suffering
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In the New Testament, the apostle Paul says:
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is
to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being
content in any and every situation, whether well fed
or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
(Philippians 4:12 NIV)
So no matter who you are, even if you are as close to
God as the apostle Paul, you will experience
prosperity and adversity, success and suffering,
everything going your way and nothing going your
way.
Most of the time, we won’t experience a great deal of
either. There’s a kind of balance going on – like what
Agur requested.
But then we’ll have times of great success and times
of great suffering. And those are the two great tests!
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The wages of the righteous bring them life, but
the income of the wicked brings them
punishment. (10:16 NIV)
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When prosperity comes to the righteous, they use it
for good and are blessed.
When prosperity comes to the wicked, they use it for
evil and it confirms them in their wickedness.
When the storm has swept by, the wicked are
gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.
(10:25 NIV)
The storms of life will reveal who you really are:
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The wicked, when faced with adversity, will become
more fully entrenched in their wickedness and will
ultimately be destroyed.
The righteous take suffering in stride and stand firm
in their convictions.
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Keller makes the following observations about
the two great tests:
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There is nothing more spiritually dangerous than to be
succeeding.
There is nothing more spiritually dangerous than to be
suffering.
Because those two experiences bring out stuff in your
heart that you didn’t know was there. There’s bad stuff
in your heart that you don’t believe to be there, that you
don’t expect to be there, you deny that it’s there. But
those two situations bring them out.
And then you can either accept what you see, embrace
what you see, build your life on this new insight, repent
and change, transform your life and become wiser and
wiser or you can deny it, you can repress it, you can
blame it on other people and become more and more of
a fool – but you will not stay where you were!
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Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and
the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower
of the grass he will pass away. (James 1:9-10)
James is telling you what you need to do in
response to adversity on one hand or prosperity
on the other:
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You need to affirm yourself out of the spiritual
danger of adversity with the gospel
You need to humble yourself out of the spiritual
danger of success with the gospel
The gospel is that I am wicked and yet loved.
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When I am in adversity I can remind myself of the
affirmation of the gospel
When I succeed I can remind myself of the humility
of the gospel
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How does this apply to our kids?
Be alert to those times when either
everything is going your kid’s way or when
they’re going through some tough times.
 These kinds of times can bring previously
hidden attitudes to the surface where you
can help them identify and deal with them.
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