Psalm 49:20 - May 31, 2009

Ps 49:20 "A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. To but rich but foolish is a waste of wealth." NIV

Psalm 49:20 is short but direct statement about our life values. Many people spend their lives in pursuit of wealth so that they can enjoy a higher standard of living, assuming that this will make their life happier and somehow easier all the while missing the true purpose of wealth and the true source of happiness. So often our hearts become ensnared by the desire for more not realizing that we are being driven by a spirit of lust and forgetting that God prospers us for the purpose of advancing his kingdom in the earth. His desire is that we be people who understand His reasons for imparting prosperity to our lives. For the righteous He demonstrates the power of a life spent in partnership with God and for the wicked He displays that vanity and worthlessness of a self-centered lifestyle.
Eccl 5:10-11 reveals the paradox of a life spent in pursuit of money. “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.” When we have been captured by a love of wealth, though our goods increase, our hearts are constantly distracted by a longing for more. This is the nature of a self-indulgent relationship with wealth. More, more, more, our hearts find no peace as we crave the next thing that we can attain through that wealth only to find that as soon as we have it we are no longer satisfied. Pr. 15:16 contrasts the value of living in the fear of the Lord with the accumulation of great wealth as it says, “Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.” It is not possessions that satisfy it is peace with God; a clear conscience
- that is the source of true happiness.
Satisfaction in life comes from God not things. And psalm 49:20 is a call to us to be people of understanding, who direct their focus in life onto the things that really matter; as Jesus said in Jn. 12:25 “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” When we live with an eternal values system that esteems the principles of God’s kingdom rather than the values of this world (Jesus said in Jn. 18:36 “my kingdom is not of this world”) our ways please the Lord. Eccl 2:26 contrasts dynamically the God given contentment that comes to those who live pleasing to God and the life of those who live by a warped set of values. “To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.” When our hearts please God it is He who gives us wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but for the sinner there awaits the task of spending a life gathering earthly wealth only to see it given to the one
who pleases Him.
In the New Testament the Apostle Paul gives a very pointed teaching concerning those whom the Lord has prospered, both how they should live and where they should place their trust. 1 Tim 6:17-19 says “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth , which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age.” If God has prospered you this passage provides for you good counsel for your heart. Walk in humility, hope in God not your wealth; use your abundance as a tool to do good deeds, establish for yourself eternal riches by how you serve others with your earthly riches, walk in a spirit of generosity not living in a fearful, hoarding spirit and establish your life from an eternal perspective not an earthly one. The only satisfied life is the one that is lived with eternity as our reward!