Better is a little with the fear of the LORD Than great treasure and turmoil with it. Proverbs 15:16
More is better. That is the attitude of the world toward money. But the Scriptures tell us a different story. We learn from Proverbs that it is a far better investment to have the fear of the Lord than it is to have treasure without it. What is interesting to me as I read this particular Proverb today is that the guy who wrote it was arguably the richest man to ever walk the earth.
We read that a little with the fear of the Lord is a good thing. The fear of God is a proper reverence for God. It is not a cowering fear that trembles at the thought that God might strike at any moment. It is a respect and reverence that puts one in their proper place - and in so doing this encourages in them a proper response to God. This respect for God will bless in far more ways than money. Since there is a respect for God Himself, there will also be a respect for His Word. This respect for the Bible leads us to read it and apply it. That in turn will bring blessings untold over time. The fear of God also leads one to have a great distaste of displeasing the Lord or disobeying Him. Therefore the principles that one reads in the Word will be followed with great caution.
The other option is to get wealth no matter what is at risk. We read there is "turmoil" that comes with this great treasure. Turmoil here means to have confusion, panic, tumult, and distrubance. There are those who have a tremendous amount of money - yet with their riches they also have incredible trouble as well. Their family is destroyed - relationships are strained - and since what they truly value is money - they have few real friends. Instead they have sycophants who hang around them because they think they will be receiving something from them at some point in the future.
Solomon had a heart for God at the beginning of his reign in Jerusalem. He had wisdom and turned to seek the Lord. His heart was geared toward pleasing God - and thus it could be said that he feared the Lord. But Solomon loved many women - way too many women. They turned his heart as they had him worship their false gods. Solomon may have been wealthy and may have had anything his heart desired financially, but he was a man filled with turmoil as he grew older. His desires ran rampant in his heart - and he became a fool who sought only after his own pleasure. In the end, his kingdom became more and more difficult to maintain - and his son - who followed his ways wound up losing almost all of it. If you interviewed Solomon at the end of his days, he would have been a man filled with regret - and also filled with a jaded view of things. That is exactly what we see in the book of Ecclesiastes. We watch Solomon looking over everything he had and saying that it all was vanity and like striving after wind. What we learn from his life is exactly what he wrote in this proverb. It is better to have just a little while fearing God - than having it all and living in a constant turmoil over it.
More is better. That is the attitude of the world toward money. But the Scriptures tell us a different story. We learn from Proverbs that it is a far better investment to have the fear of the Lord than it is to have treasure without it. What is interesting to me as I read this particular Proverb today is that the guy who wrote it was arguably the richest man to ever walk the earth.
We read that a little with the fear of the Lord is a good thing. The fear of God is a proper reverence for God. It is not a cowering fear that trembles at the thought that God might strike at any moment. It is a respect and reverence that puts one in their proper place - and in so doing this encourages in them a proper response to God. This respect for God will bless in far more ways than money. Since there is a respect for God Himself, there will also be a respect for His Word. This respect for the Bible leads us to read it and apply it. That in turn will bring blessings untold over time. The fear of God also leads one to have a great distaste of displeasing the Lord or disobeying Him. Therefore the principles that one reads in the Word will be followed with great caution.
The other option is to get wealth no matter what is at risk. We read there is "turmoil" that comes with this great treasure. Turmoil here means to have confusion, panic, tumult, and distrubance. There are those who have a tremendous amount of money - yet with their riches they also have incredible trouble as well. Their family is destroyed - relationships are strained - and since what they truly value is money - they have few real friends. Instead they have sycophants who hang around them because they think they will be receiving something from them at some point in the future.
Solomon had a heart for God at the beginning of his reign in Jerusalem. He had wisdom and turned to seek the Lord. His heart was geared toward pleasing God - and thus it could be said that he feared the Lord. But Solomon loved many women - way too many women. They turned his heart as they had him worship their false gods. Solomon may have been wealthy and may have had anything his heart desired financially, but he was a man filled with turmoil as he grew older. His desires ran rampant in his heart - and he became a fool who sought only after his own pleasure. In the end, his kingdom became more and more difficult to maintain - and his son - who followed his ways wound up losing almost all of it. If you interviewed Solomon at the end of his days, he would have been a man filled with regret - and also filled with a jaded view of things. That is exactly what we see in the book of Ecclesiastes. We watch Solomon looking over everything he had and saying that it all was vanity and like striving after wind. What we learn from his life is exactly what he wrote in this proverb. It is better to have just a little while fearing God - than having it all and living in a constant turmoil over it.
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