Proverbs 10:22, True Riches – True Happiness!

April 29, Proverbs 10:22

Psalm 50 “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13).

True Riches – True Happiness!

1. Their Secret: The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow (pain) with it. These riches are “without alloy, free from the drawbacks and anxieties which attach to earthly riches” (Perowne). Some have charged this verse with deterministic fatalism. In other words, if God makes one wealthy, nothing one does can change that. Certainly this is not the message of Proverbs. We believe this verse teaches that the Lord doesn’t add sorrow, but that His gifts include happiness as well as well wealth. It is not that effort on our part is useless, but that labour without God’s blessing is (Ps. 127:2; Hab. 1:6-7). “This man receives riches from God because God has ruled that wealth belongs to wise and good men” (Alden). It is speaking, not of earthly riches only, but heavenly, true riches where moth and rust do not corrupt. Earthly riches, like earthly friends, may prove untrue, bringing cares, fears and distrust. “The soul of a thorough worldling is either choked by wealth possessed, or torn by wealth taken away” (Arnot). Examples abound which illustrate that many who have temporal riches are often unhappy (1 Tm. 6:9- 10). The god of this world frequently gives riches, but then adds great pain and sorrow with them. Remember, the blessing of the Lord turns every possession into wealth. We sometimes attach sorrows to that which God intends ultimately to prove a blessing to us. Today’s verse has been paraphrased thus: “All that God gives to do us good really secures our good without any admixture of evil.”

2. Their Source: The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it. The it is an emphatic pronoun to show that it is the blessing of the Lord that makes one rich, and nothing else. The silver and the gold are His, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, and He gives them to whosoever He wills (Ps. 50:10-16). These are true riches, achieved within the will of God, and used for His service and glory. This wealth brings true happiness in so many ways. This happy soul holds it with a generous hand, and when gone, because it is a trust, there is no regret but rather joy. Wealth that comes rightly will be rightly held and rightly enjoyed. Proverb 10:4 says, The hand of the diligent makes rich. Today’s verse places the emphasis on the Lord’s blessing as the Source. God blesses the diligent, giving them wealth; and they who have God’s blessing, though little or nothing else, are rich, truly rich. When riches clog the heart, the way to Christ is clogged (Lu.18:18-30). Let us never forget that we are all sinners before God, at best deserving only his wrath, not wealth or blessing. Therefore, any good thing we do receive is the result of God’s mercy alone. “What comes from the love of God has the grace of God for its companion” (Henry). Some do grow rich without God’s blessing; some grow rich by it; which would you rather be? Truly, they are richest who have God’s blessing.

Thought: “It is easy for the poor man, but hard for the rich to be a Christian” (Arnot).

Prayer: Thank you, Lord that I am rich in a way I never dreamed.