Proverbs 22

Several themes come up repeatedly in Proverbs…truly in the Bible. Money is one of the most popular subjects because it has both the power for much good and tremendous evil.
As a gun is only as dangerous as the person holding it, so too it is with money. Money can provide food and shelter but it can also satisfy our lusts and desires of the flesh. It can feed our vanity and quell our insecurities. In a society as shallow as ours is today it can provide a pretense for assessing our value and the value of others.
The 22nd chapter of Proverbs starts by slaying that pretense.
Verse 1: A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. (NIV)
A discussion of what a “good name” really is could take up an entire chapter in and of itself. So, for our purposes today we will operate with under the assumption that most of us understand the concept of “good name”. Much like we understand the concept of freedom or liberty.
The point, I guess, is that character and how we interact with those around us is far more important than what we drive, where we live or how much we have in the bank. That’s not to say we should all live in old vans down by the river. But to say that money and the acquisition thereof shouldn’t be the priority.
Verse 7: The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.(NIV)
So, the rich get all that money from lending money to people that want to buy stuff they can’t afford and the way to stop that is to stop borrowing money to buy things you can’t afford. Man, I wish I would have gotten that a few years ago!
Think about the truth in that though. I am a slave to SallieMae, my van payment, etc. It’s pitiful. The fact is we could buy two vehicles for half of what we owe on our van. We don’t need it. We’d own a house today if it wasn’t for my student loans. I am a slave. A slave to a job that is not my calling but is based on financial need.
Sometimes that look in the mirror sucks!
But to those who have made their money the right way, through hard work and saving, Proverbs talks of their blessing.
Verse 9: A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.
I read that verse and realize that there is absolutely no need for welfare, socialism or any of the government sponsored social programs. If we would live this principle of giving generously and helping those in need we would essentially take care of one another. Imagine each one of us bringing our gifts to the table to help one another.
Instead we are a society of debtors. Debtors whose main focus is the latest and newest thing. We spend what we don’t have and pay for what we spend several times over. The answer, like so many answers in this life, is so simple it hurts. If you can’t pay for it don’t buy it.
Verse 27: If you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.
I will never forget the night about five years ago we had a late-night knock at the door. We were broke. I had been “downsized” a little less than a year before and at that point we were up to our ears in debt. We tried hard to climb out of it but could not. See, we had become slaves.
Anyway, there was a knock at the door. Two guys stood on my porch. They were there to take my wife’s van but wanted to let us get the car seats out. Thoughtful of them I must admit. But, the point here is I bought that van for Stacey because the old van we bought for $1000 wasn’t good enough. I disguised it in my mind with thinking that is was about safety and reliability and all that. It was. But it was also about something else.
There in my drive stood two painful reminders of what happens if you have the lack of means to pay for something. They didn’t snatch our bed form under us that night…they took our van. So there I stood, two small children and a baby inside with my wife crying into my shirt. It was and will ever remain one of the most painful moments in my life. Not because of the van, but because my ignorance and arrogance had caused us so much pain.
We’ve talked about it before but just to hit that dead horse one more time…debt bad. Cash good.
Gods Speed,Greg