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APPLYING BIBLE PRINCIPLES March 2009 Money is one of God’s gifts to people.
“Likewise all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil — this is the gift of God” (Eccl. 5:19).
Solomon, who penned this verse, was one of the wisest people who ever lived. When Solomon succeeded his father, David, as King of Israel, God said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Many of us would have answered differently than Solomon did. We would have asked for wealth, for beauty, for possessions or for material things of some sort.
Solomon asked God for wisdom and knowledge so that he might properly rule over the nation of Israel. And because he did not ask for riches or wealth, God gave them — as well as wisdom and knowledge — to him in abundance.
One of the areas in which Solomon’s wisdom was prevalent was in the matter of wealth. That’s why in our text for today from Ecclesiastes 5:19, Solomon describes wealth and the enjoyment of wealth as a gift from God. As we have seen in previous presentations, God grants mankind the ability to earn that which belongs to God Himself: money and wealth. But then He goes a step further and proclaims through His servant, Solomon, that we are to enjoy this provision, for both the wealth and the enjoyment thereof are a gift of God.
Some people, of course, carry their enjoyment to an extreme. They abuse their wealth, this gift of God, by thinking that their enjoyment is all that matters. They excel in the enjoyment of their wealth to such an extent that they forget the foundational principle that all that we do — including using our money — is to bring glory to God.
A pastor once was encouraging his congregation to give, and he said that some present that morning could not give. The reason, he said, was that they had left God’s money at the shopping mall. In other words, they had placed their desires and their pleasure before what they should have given to God and to their church.
How do you view money today? Do you realize it comes from God, that just as He gave to Solomon of old, He also gives to you? And in your use of the wealth that God has entrusted to you, are you glorifying Him?
As you consider how to glorify God through your money and wealth, and as you consider the offering this morning, remember the words of missionary Jim Elliot, who was martyred in 1956 by the Auca Indians in South America:
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
