Proverbs 23:4–5

The danger of chasing riches, and of setting the mind on being rich, is if anything even more sneaky and absorbing. Here the thing to guard against is not simple appetite. You must stop leaning on your own understanding, which is so quick to find good reasons for something evil and selfish. The Apostle says that those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, even if they avoid the dishonest side-roads to it. They fall into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into destruction and ruin.

Yet we are told to "cease from your own wisdom." This means you cannot use wisdom well unless you "trust in the Lord with all your heart." Wisdom must never be cut off from real fellowship with the Lord and real dependence on Him.

So it is said, "Do not toil to acquire wealth." Chasing wealth may be what your own wisdom tells you to do, but it is pure folly. It brings a load of disaster on the unfortunate seeker, on his household, and on everyone who depends on him in any way.

Work has its place, and it is usually a good thing. Yet some people overwork themselves to become wealthy (v. 4). This can be very dangerous. A person should have enough understanding of his own to make him stop chasing selfish ambitions. Setting our eyes on greater things than we have will end in disappointment (v. 5)… On the other hand, riches can increase without overwork. In that case, "If riches increase, do not set your heart on them" (Ps. 62:10).

Wealth has its snares, as the Apostle shows a little later. But owning wealth does not necessarily ruin the soul. The ruin lies in the "desire to be rich"… Others have pointed out that this word "desire" carries the idea of purpose. The danger is that the believer, instead of being content to earn his living, sets himself with "purpose" of heart to be rich. So riches become his object instead of the Lord.

How good it would be if the great mass of professing Christians, and some true believers too, would take this instruction to heart: "Do not toil to acquire wealth." But this call is ignored, and so is the one in 1 Timothy 6:1-10. Many claim to have their riches in Christ, in the heavenly places and in never-ending glory. Yet they wear themselves out for earthly gain and aim to become wealthy. Riches have wings. They can fly away as fast as an eagle climbing into the sky.

Our wisdom is to set our mind on the eternal weight of glory where Christ is, and not to look at the things that are seen. These pass quickly, while the unseen things are eternal.

So both the truth and the experience of God's people prove this: piety is gain, and when contentment that trusts God goes with it, it is great gain. We brought nothing into the world. Whatever we gain on the way through it, we clearly carry nothing out. We have food and covering — even the slave had these — so let us be content with that.

Perhaps even more insidious and absorbing is the danger of seeking and setting the mind on being rich. Here the thing to guard against is not mere appetite. It is the need to cease from one's own understanding, which is so quick to find good reasons for an evil and selfish thing. The Apostle declares that those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, even if they avoid crooked paths to it. They fall into many unwise and hurtful desires that plunge men into destruction and ruin. For the love of money is a root of every evil. Some who have aspired after it have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So the passage vividly pictures two things: how uncertain riches are, and how self-confident we are.

Again we see how wealth goes as it came. If it came by frivolous, unworthy, or dishonest means, how it flies! For in such a case it has wings, not weight, and it disappears through a vanity no less empty than the one that brought it for a while.

Confidence in riches is truly unsafe, as we are next told. Riches certainly make themselves wings and flee away like an eagle toward heaven. No wonder then that the one who trusts in them will fall. On the other hand, righteousness endures, whatever comes from outside. So the wise man can say that the righteous will flourish like the branch or green leaf.

Work, in its place, is good. But some overwork themselves to gain material wealth (v. 4). This can be very dangerous. A person should have enough understanding to stop his selfish ambitions. Setting our eyes on greater things than we have ends in disappointment (v. 5)… But riches may also increase without overwork. In that case, "If riches increase, set not your heart on them" (Ps. 62:10).

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth." The warning of the Lord Jesus, however — which was first of all directed to His disciples — does not refer to the blessing of God that we may wish for. It refers to something completely different: the greedy striving for wealth and earthly security. We read about this already in Proverbs 23:4-5.

Men may rob the Christian of what he has on earth. But they cannot touch the lasting riches that belong to heaven. How miserable is the state of those whose hearts are set on earthly riches! Such riches can easily take wings, or they must be left behind in this world, and their owners are "not rich toward God" (Luke 12:21). In the light of what the Lord Jesus said in Luke 12, we can easily understand Paul's charge in 1 Timothy 6:17: "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches." Those to whom God has given material riches in stewardship are to "do good, to be rich in good works," and so lay up for themselves treasure in heaven.