Money or Wisdom? (3rd Wednesday of Advent)

Today we’re looking at Psalm 49, which ends on a cheery note: "A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish." This final verse drives home the point of the entire psalm: that human riches mean nothing in the face of death. (Here’s hoping that human debts mean nothing as well!) To understand this psalm more fully, it is helpful to know that the Israelites had a basic theory about God’s blessing: do good, and the Lord will reward you; do bad and the Lord will squish you like the dirty bug you are. Pretty simple formula, isn’t it? In some ways, this mentality reflects the truth. God does promise to bring judgement upon the evildoers while at the same time bringing blessing upon the righteous and upright. However, to boil God’s complexity down to a neat little formula led the Israelites astray. Thus, they tended to look upon the rich as being the ones blessed by God whilst the poor were merely getting what they deserved.

You can almost imagine the Israelites saying things like: "Were you born blind? Sorry, your parents shouldn’t have stolen money from the temple. Are you so poor that you’ve had to enter into voluntary enslavement to pay off your debts? So sorry, but next time maybe you won’t tell a lie!" At the same time, they might have said something like this to the rich: "Master we see that God has greatly blessed you. You are highly favored among us. Come, take your place at the head of the table."

Now, lest we judge the Israelites too harshly, let us be honest with ourselves. I suspect that many of us have a similar mentality when it comes to God blessing us today. As Christians we expect God to bless us, especially when we’ve made an extra effort to be good. For example, how many television preachers have you watched ask for you to send in $100 as seed money that the Lord will grow into a mighty tree, returning it to you 2, 5 or 10-fold?

Yet the truth is this: when it comes to death, the only thing worldly wealth is good for is to buy a nice tomb. On the other hand, when we busy ourselves with acquiring spiritual wealth we gain the eternal treasure of wisdom. As we focus not on building our bank accounts, but on building or relationship with God, we grow and mature in our faith. As we mature, we begin to see things through God’s eyes. As we draw close to him, we gain a new perspective on life and come to a deeper understanding of what God’s purpose is for our lives.

At the end of the day, I’d rather know what my purpose in life is than to have millions of dollars. Money can’t bring me wisdom, contentment or peace, but a relationship with God can. God took the first step in establishing such a relationship when he sent his Son to earth as the Christ-child. He continues to walk toward us and with us and seeks out an intimate relationship with us. Now it is up to us to take the first step towards him.

Psalm 49 (NIV)

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world,
both low and high, rich and poor alike:
My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
the utterance from my heart will give understanding.

I will turn my ear to a proverb;
with the harp I will expound my riddle:
Why should I fear when evil days come,
when wicked deceivers surround me-
those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?

No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him-
the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough-
that he should live on forever and not see decay.

For all can see that wise men die;
the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others.

Their tombs will remain their houses
forever, their dwellings for endless generations, t
hough they had named lands after themselves.

But man, despite his riches, does not endure;
he is like the beasts that perish.

This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,
and of their followers, who approve their sayings.

Selah

Like sheep they are destined for the grave,
and death will feed on them.

The upright will rule over them in the morning;
their forms will decay in the grave,
far from their princely mansions.

But God will redeem my lifefrom the grave;
he will surely take me to himself.

Selah

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich,
when the splendor of his house increases;
for he will take nothing with him when he dies,
his splendor will not descend with him.

Though while he lived he counted himself blessed
— and men praise you when you prosper-
he will join the generation of his fathers,
who will never see the light of life .

A man who has riches without understanding
is like the beasts that perish.