"Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom."
Proverbs 23:4
It's interesting that God asks us not to work at being rich--not because it sounds like something God wouldn't say, because it is clearly something he would and did say, in different ways, quite a lot, but because I feel like we rarely want to hear it. We want to labor for riches--in fact, we often try to make that the point of our lives, and see value in it. We justify it in a lot of ways, including very good things like taking care of our families, helping others, and making the world a better place.
The perfect complement to a command not to be rich is the command to cease from our own wisdom... because it is our wisdom that keeps telling us that we need money, that money needs to come first--that money will solve all of these other problems that we have.
If we can't trust in our wisdom, and we shouldn't seek riches, then what *should* we trust, and what *should* we seek instead? God answers that in the next verse by asking "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?" (verse 5), and by telling us elsewhere in the scriptures not to trust in the arm of flesh (2 Chronicles 32:8, etc.). We can't trust in riches, and we can't even trust in ourselves. What we *can* trust, when nothing else stands, is God. He advises "seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you (3 Nephi 13:33). Instead of putting money first, and working for it, if we put God first, then things will be okay, and work out as they should. ... We just have to trust in that--in God--rather than in our own doubts, fears, and also a little greed as no matter what we have, we keep thinking that we need more and more.
Today, let's try to let go of money as a primary goal. Let's work on trusting God more than we trust ourselves. Let's work on that faith and trust in God that will help us see farther and accomplish more than we could on our own. Let's believe and move forward, knowing that God will guide our steps.
Proverbs 23:4
It's interesting that God asks us not to work at being rich--not because it sounds like something God wouldn't say, because it is clearly something he would and did say, in different ways, quite a lot, but because I feel like we rarely want to hear it. We want to labor for riches--in fact, we often try to make that the point of our lives, and see value in it. We justify it in a lot of ways, including very good things like taking care of our families, helping others, and making the world a better place.
The perfect complement to a command not to be rich is the command to cease from our own wisdom... because it is our wisdom that keeps telling us that we need money, that money needs to come first--that money will solve all of these other problems that we have.
If we can't trust in our wisdom, and we shouldn't seek riches, then what *should* we trust, and what *should* we seek instead? God answers that in the next verse by asking "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?" (verse 5), and by telling us elsewhere in the scriptures not to trust in the arm of flesh (2 Chronicles 32:8, etc.). We can't trust in riches, and we can't even trust in ourselves. What we *can* trust, when nothing else stands, is God. He advises "seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you (3 Nephi 13:33). Instead of putting money first, and working for it, if we put God first, then things will be okay, and work out as they should. ... We just have to trust in that--in God--rather than in our own doubts, fears, and also a little greed as no matter what we have, we keep thinking that we need more and more.
Today, let's try to let go of money as a primary goal. Let's work on trusting God more than we trust ourselves. Let's work on that faith and trust in God that will help us see farther and accomplish more than we could on our own. Let's believe and move forward, knowing that God will guide our steps.
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