Our Sunday morning adult class on 9/11/16 focused on Proverbs 10:22, which in the KJV says, “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” The first part of this proverb tells us that material prosperity is connected to the blessing of the LORD. All things are the LORD’s. He is the creator and owner of the whole universe, therefore all things are at his disposal. So if someone is prosperous or successful, ultimately it is because God has allowed it or caused it to happen.
The complete sovereignty of God is a non-negotiable in the Bible. It does create problems, like how can a good God let this or that happen, why would a good God let innocent children suffer, but those are the problems we have to deal with. Problems and questions arising from the assumption that God is not in control are not biblical. When we diminish God’s sovereignty in an attempt to let him off the hook for something, what we inevitably do is exalt the power of the enemy, and we fall into some kind of dualism.
What is dualism? Dualism is a world view that posits a struggle in the universe between two more or less equal forces: light and dark, good and evil. It’s especially popular in popular fantasy settings, where a kind of unthinking romanticism abounds. But I have seen this sort of language even on the descriptions of Christian movies and books: “In the eternal struggle between good and evil …” Wait! No! There is no “eternal struggle between good and evil.” There is no struggle. And it is not eternal.
First, there is never any point at which God’s victory is ever in question. The most thoroughly biblical picture of Satan is that he is God’s servant, albeit perhaps an unwilling one. He exists to serve a function in God’s plan. So we really shouldn’t be giving the enemy more glory or credit than he is due. Our focus should be on God, not on the enemy. Second, Satan is not eternal. He has a beginning, his power over the world has been broken in Jesus, and there is a set point in the future when his freedom to persecute and accuse the faithful will come to an end.
The second part of the verse in the KJV tells us two things: first, that God gives good gifts, not secretly poisoned ones. This idea is echoed in Jesus’ teaching that we find in Matthew 7:9-11: “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” God can be trusted not to give us ironic gifts. I guess this is why I’m not a big fan of the common joke among Christians about not praying for patience, because if you do, God will give you a situation that really tries your patience. The image here is us asking innocently for help, and God rolling up his sleeves with a malicious grin and saying, “Well, you asked for it.” But that’s not the way God gives good gifts. What I don’t like about this joke is how its subconscious function is to scare us away from praying for patience, because if we do God will zap us. God doesn’t zap us. God also doesn’t give us second best gifts. The gifts he gives us are specifically for us, and they are specifically the best for us. If we ask for a baseball glove and he gives us a used baseball glove, we shouldn’t complain that it’s used, but we should realize that it’s already broken in and oiled, that it’s the perfect fit for our hand and for our position on the field, and that it’s signed by one of our favorite players. So God gives good gifts, not ironic or second-best ones.
Second, God gives good gifts in a good way. The wealth of the wicked comes often with problems. Sudden wealth can and probably will destroy one’s life. Ask most lottery winners. This is because wealth comes with responsibilities and pressures, which, if we’re not ready for them, will weigh us down with pain and grief. But the wealth that God gives, on the other hand, comes in such a way that it only enhances one’s life. It doesn’t add extra burdens for which we were not ready. In fact, when we come into the prosperity that God gives, in whatever form it comes (because the prosperity of God is not always money), what we will see is that God has already been preparing us for our new level of responsibility, probably without us realizing it. God is a good parent, who knows what we need, how we need it, and when we need it, and he is more concerned with our true prosperity, that is the prosperity of our soul, than with our material overabundance. So when his blessing makes one rich, when know that one is truly rich because God adds no sorrow with that wealth.
For more on this proverb, including an alternate translation of the second clause, see Dr. Lee’s blog, bitesizedexegesis.com.
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