Proverbs 13:7a, The Rich-Poor Man – A Fool In A Fog!

July 1, Proverbs 13:7a

Luke 12:13-21; Heb. 11:1-4; Jas. 2:4-9 “Surely every man walketh in a vain show” (Ps. 39:6).

The Rich-Poor Man – A Fool In A Fog!

Here is another interpretation of this verse. It doesn’t say these persons are pretending. It may have a purely spiritual meaning. “This understanding of the verse lends itself to a Christian interpretation” (Maclaren). The Bible distinguishes between outer and inner reality, between the material and the spiritual. The conditions of poverty and wealth are not moral issues, but may indicate spiritual differences. Those who are rich in goods may be poverty-stricken in soul. There is that makes himself rich, yet has nothing. This is the rich-poor man. The Lord illustrates this vital distinction. In Luke 12 we have a smug man’s plans for his future, and a Sovereign God’s determination about his failure. He’s a fool in a fog. We considered this fool before, but he’s worth another look.

1. The Faithless Way: He that lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God (Lk. 12:21). He has no true faith, and cannot therefore please God (Heb. 11:1). It is all I, I, I, six times in as many verses. He sees his riches only in terms of the size of his barns. Is not this how many are living today? Is this not also why the lottery mania has taken such a hold in the Western world? The outdated materialistic philosophy that “seeing is believing” still holds sway over the minds of many. They conveniently forget that the invisible is the real. Jesus said, Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed (Jn. 20:29). Paul encouraged the suffering saints by reminding them. The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are Eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).

2. The Foolish Way: God said unto him, thou fool. This reminds us of what David records of the fool in Psalm 14. That fool said, There is no God. He was not saying that God doesn’t exist, but that he had no need of God. He had chosen the temporal kingdom of man to the exclusion of the Eternal Kingdom of God. So it is with the fool in this parable. He tells us again and again what he is going to do, and declares his complete self-satisfaction (12:19). Such fools as this abound everywhere. How blind they are to their own abject poverty when they must render their account to God. It is not our riches, but our very want, our poverty, that we will plead before the throne of Grace.

3. The Fateful Way: This night thy soul shall be required of thee. We do not determine the moment either of our birth or our death. God gives life and takes it. When He declares, This night thy soul shall be required of thee, no physician, no psychiatrist, no preacher, not the dearest friend, can reverse that call. It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment (Heb. 9:27). “No amount of riches can atone for poverty of spirit” (Rev.3:17). All must make peace with God this side of the grave. There is no chance thereafter, for now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2).

Thought: “Treasures in heaven are laid up only as treasures on earth are laid down.”

Prayer: Deliver me, Lord, from being rich but poor.