ALTERNATIVE TO GOD GETTING THE GLORY: SORROW
A Vision of Prov. 10:22, 1 Tim. 6:9-10, Ps 37:7-10
Father, Your Word says,” It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it”. You giving financial independence without sorrow is the only way we want it. The unbeliever can achieve success in any area of life and not seem to experience sorrow. But, when the believer goes out to gain success on his own, often couched in terms of “with God’s help” and ”Bless my efforts, O Lord”, utilizing the ways of the world, he will be unpleasantly surprised to find an entirely different outcome.
Material wealth, creature comforts, prestige and power may appear on the surface to be the same for the humanistic believer and the unbeliever, but underneath, in the soul of the humanistic believer, sorrow is present . “But those (believers) who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith (therefore, Christians) and pierced themselves with many grief’s”(1 Tim 6:9-10).
Sorrow is intermingled in the life of the humanistic believer, whereas the unbeliever, in many cases, seems to trip merrily along.
“Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes;
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;
And you will look carefully for him and he will not be there.”(Ps 37:7-10)
The humanistic believer, on the other hand, has accomplished “success” the wrong way, affirming all the wrong principles and living dynamics.
A financial reversal, maybe bankruptcy, would be the greatest blessing, “the good and perfect gift” from You, that this believer could receive from You at this point in his Christian journey; because the real journey is transformation into the likeness of Jesus, not financial independence or any other worthy pursuit.
The worst thing for the unbeliever would be for You to leave him alone in his success, deceived by wealth, without You, God, granting them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil… held captive (kept happy) by him to do his will”(2 Tim 2:25-26).