“Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase.” Proverbs 13.11 NKJV
If you read the Bible enough, you start to see patterns. If you listen to it enough times, you start to notice metanarratives that span the whole, from book to book, common attributes of the kingdom of heaven. One of these is the way God has ordered things in the creation.
I feel that I need to tell you this: evil will never win. The darkness will never overcome the light.
In the same way, theft will always be exposed, and the violence with which some cover themselves like a garment will be stripped from them.
The get-rich-quick schemer never does. Not in the end.
Slow and steady wins the race, and if you want to finish first, first you have to finish. Keep your head down and do the work, then, and you will be rewarded. Service, not selfishness. Sometimes hard work is its own reward anyway, and it is true that wealth gained little by little is far less likely to ruin its beneficiary than winning the lottery. There’s a lot to be said for steadiness.
Did you know that the whole point of the Law of Moses—the whole point of God communicating it to His people in the first place—was “so that it will go well with you” (Deuteronomy 12.28, Ephesians 6.3)? God made things in order. Would He not also sustain them in order? The Creator is rational and reasonable; would not the creation bear His imprimatur and resound in sympathetic harmony for anyone who makes a practice of righteousness? For any man whose conscience has not been seared, the difference between good and evil is usually obvious. Further, the benefit of choosing God’s way makes choosing it a foregone conclusion. Running to the light is the only reasonable choice.
We see these truths alive and active in Proverbs 13.17: “A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful ambassador brings health.”
I’m still astonished by the witness of Scripture whenever I read about how God chooses to work through people when He could easily go around us. Take Jonah, for instance (please). I wonder if he knew how completely he fulfilled Proverbs 13.17, not only for himself but for others, not just in his own life but in the life of God. And how many times has my own life been not much more than a cautionary tale?
Thank God for the grace by which I stand, and the gift of faith that activates it!
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