My dear readers,

The Blessings of the LORD Make Us Rich Always

Proverbs 10:22: “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

“Blessings” is a word used frequently by both believers and unbelievers. When the unbelievers use it, it usually means “physical” benefits or gain. These physical benefits include the tangibles or intangibles that pertain to all things of earth. The one who fights for climate change will see it a blessing if all nations decide to reduce fossil fuel usage and will spend billions of dollars to improve the world’s climate conditions. To another it might be material where he no longer has to make ends meet if he strikes it rich through gambling. It could also be a family whose father has found a good paying job after months of searching; or the children achieve very good grades after struggling for a couple of years in their studies. This applies also to parents whose loved ones might be in the hospital and recovered to full health. These are some of the world’s blessings that are readily publicised on the internet by millions. Though the word used might not be “blessings,” the idea is one and the same. But they all come with sorrows.

In some Christian circles, pastors have also taught their congregation that physical blessings are to be sought after as God wants His children to be healthy and wealthy. Joseph Prince, a well-known Charismatic pastor, wrote, “Let me tell you this: It is the devil who wants you sick and poor, but the God I know has paid a heavy price to redeem you from the curse of sickness and poverty! . . . My friend, get this right: God abhors sickness and He loathes poverty. He gave everything He had to annihilate sickness and poverty, when He gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for us. He placed all of humanity’s sin, as well as the curse of sickness and poverty on the body of Jesus. All you need to do right now is respond to Jesus' finished work—your sins have already been forgiven. Your physical body will be healed and your poverty will indeed be history!” [https://www.joseph prince.org /blog/daily-grace-inspirations/ he-gospel-brings-health-and-provision] He is not alone in this thinking. Perhaps some of us also think in this manner that the LORD wants us to be healthy and wealthy as we live and serve Him on earth. This is the lie of the god of this world who has blinded many people’s minds into believing this lie and rejecting the gospel of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

It is important to note that God is not against being healthy and wealthy. There were many healthy and wealthy people recorded in the Bible such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and King David. Of course, the richest family on earth after Noah’s Flood was Noah and his family who owned the whole world. They lived anywhere they liked. The actual problem is the love of money which is the root of all evil (cf. 1 Tim 6:10). In both the Old and New Testaments, the teaching from God is always to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and might and our neighbour as ourselves. Materialism has always been a sin. Proverbs 10:22 cannot refer to blessings that are physical as they all come with sorrows. The blessing of God is without sorrow at all.

Proverbs 10:22 affirms and confirms this truth. The only blessing of the LORD that contains no sorrow is spiritual blessings. All things and people on earth bring joy and sorrow. Our possessions are easily eaten by moth and rust; or they can be stolen by man or inflation. Matthew 6:19-21: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Believers are to stop laying up treasures on earth which they used to do when they were unbelievers. After they become children of God, they need to treasure up eternal treasures, because only all things spiritual are eternal.

All things on earth will die. This is a sin-filled world. That is why all things and people die. There is no exception. Christ came to die when He took on flesh and blood. That is why the blessings cannot be physical even when Christianised by the Charismatic teachers who propound their health-and-wealth gospel. Their wrong interpretation of the Bible makes them dangerous deceivers of the worst kind because they proclaim another gospel that condemns but which has been passed off as able to save. The first and greatest blessing from God is salvation in Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose from the dead for our justification. The false teachers have distorted this blessing so deviously by turning it into a curse and sending millions into hell.

After salvation, all the blessings of God have a spiritual dimension that never existed before in a believer’s life. Now that he is a child of God, all that he possesses on earth, from the tangibles to the intangibles, have a spiritual dimension. He is a spiritual person. All the things he does and possesses, and the people he knows have a spiritual significance. These are avenues and experiences where he can bring spiritual blessings to others. For example, when he relates to new and old friends and loved ones who are unbelievers, he becomes a blessing to them when he shares Christ with them. He is now rich in the truth of Christ and his life and the gospel he shares can bring the greatest “wealth” to sinners. He brings eternal joy and salvation! To fellow believers, his life is one of great riches to them when he encourages them to walk in holiness. When they are perplexed, he has the wisdom from God to help them out of their perplexity. His God-given knowledge and wisdom in God's Word make him one of the richest persons on earth due to his wealth of God’s knowledge. He helps Christians that will impact their eternity in Christ. Even in the face of loss and sorrow, there is hope and spiritual lessons behind the painful moments. They draw us closer to God in Christ via prayer with thanksgiving. Is this not true treasure that is treasured up in heaven?

Conclusion -- When people like Joseph Prince teach falsehood in the name of Christ, they lead their followers toward the road of deception, delusion, death and destruction. These are the ones who deserve to be anathema of which Paul emphatically warned about without apology in Galatians 1:8-9 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

Therefore, in the midst of this sin-filled world where deceptions abound, seek the blessings of God in your life that will always make you rich in the spiritual and eternal sense. What the world offers is fool’s gold. It has the appearance of wealth because it appeals to our flesh; but as children of God what should appeal and attract our heart, mind and soul must be all things spiritual and eternal such as worship and fellowship with God’s people, the study of and obedience to God's Word, a spiritual walk with our Saviour and Lord, and building up godly homes where God's people dwell. May you experience the blessings of God in your life that will make you rich eternally. Amen.