At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
“The desire of the slothful killeth him; For his hands refuse to labour. He coveteth greedily all the day long: But the righteous giveth and spareth not” (Proverbs 21:25–26).
We see here two basic worldviews. One of the worldview of me, me, men—a worldview and outlook that simple wants to gather by grabbing. This is coupled with a refusal to do that which would result in him having what he would have. He refuses to labor, but he greedily covets—all day long—those things which labor would obtain for him. His lust for stuff is mentioned twice. The proverb begins by saying that his desire is the thing that is killing him. It kills him that he wants and cannot have.
The contrast with the righteous is pronounced, presumably in both way. The righteous gives, and is able to giving without stinting. The reason he is able to give without stinting is that he has a lot. He has a lot because of the implied contrast here with the slothful one, the one who is unwilling to work with his hands. Not only is the work profitable, but so is the generosity.
Scripture teaches us that work brings in an income. In addition, we learn that generosity functions like compounding interest. Works adds, and generosity multiplies. We think again of Bunyan’s short little poem about the man, “some thought him mad, the more he gave, the more he had.”
God’s way to wealth has safeguards built into it. The short term thinker is the one who wants to “get rich quick” now, and is constantly on the lookout for short cuts. Ideally, the way to wealth is to win at Powerball—a tax on people who are bad at math. There are no guardrails here, and the fact that the person concerned doesn’t have any money does not prevent him from being in bondage to it. The guardrails for the godly are build into the nature of the case—work hard, over an extended period of time, and make sure to be generous all along the way. When you arrive, your money won’t have you by the throat.
