4.30.2011 SUMMUM BONUM: WEALTH IN AGONY

before israel went into the promised land where Jehovah would be driving out, by hornet, the 7 heathen nations little by little so the land would not be overrun with wild animals before israel could fully inhabit...He warned them to beware of all the houses, wells and vineyards they would be inheriting...to beware of all this they were receiving...to beware of not forgetting Jehovah.

one of the proverbs includes a request from the wise man that God not give him either too little, so little that he would have to steal to live, or too much, so much that he would forget God.

another says that wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, but that which is gathered by labor increases. 13.11 the operative word here is labor. labor came with sin and the fall. man was to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. the warp and woof of physical existence was to be pain and provision out of that pain.

another like proverb says that a laborer's appetite works for him for his hunger urges him on. so we learn not only is pain necessary but it is even serves as a beneficial part of existence. 16.26

from adam's sin we as fallen men have always tried to escape God's appointed pattern...we have an instinctual desire not to have to need Him. this is so in every area but can be seen most easily in the area of things. we don't want to be dependent on Him for them. we don't want to limit our consumption of them. we are always looking to 'get to the place where we don't have to "worry" or we no longer experience "need" '. a vain hope for we never can get enough for we are trying to get enough from things that inherently do not contain 'enough'. God says no, you don't want to escape need, pain, difficulty. that is part of the weaving of Glory.

but, as if insane, we say no, we don't want Your way. He says, My people have committed two evils. they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. jeremiah 2.13

sighing He says I Myself will show them the pattern. this Jesus who did not regard equality with God as a thing to be held onto, this Jesus possessor of All became poor so that we who possess nothing could, in Him, become fabulously wealthy. the prophet speaks of His earthly existence some seven hundred years before thus,

a very essential part of His Glory was need, pain, difficulty..
'He grew up..like a young plant whose roots are in parched ground
he had no beauty
no majesty to draw our eyes
no grace to make us delight in Him
His form
disfigured
lost all the likeness of a man
His beauty changed beyond human semblance
He was despised
tormented and humbled by suffering
we despised Him
we held Him of no account
a thing from which men turn away their eyes
yet on Himself He bore our sufferings
our torments He endured
while we counted Him smitten by God
struck down by disease and misery
but He was pierced for our transgressions
tortured for our iniquities
the chastisement he bore is health for us
and by His scourging we are healed'. isaiah 53

one to whom He revealed Himself said, 'not that i speak from want for i have learned to be content in whatever circumstances i'm in. i know how to get along with humble means and i also know how to live in prosperity. in any and every circumstance i have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. i can do all things through Him who strengthens me. nevertheless you have done well to share with me in my affliction... philippians 4

if i have all things but am not suffering with Him, i impoverish myself and those around me immeasurably here and Him without end forever. if i suffer with Him, whether i have nothing or everything, i am Wealthy.

God's encouragement to those who want wealth as well as to those who have it is be content with nourishment and clothing and give all the rest away. I timothy 6 may God help us to believe He knows best and to follow the pattern of the One who had no place to lay His head as soon as He was finally was enabled to do so...so that He might mingle His Wealth in agony.