By Robert Halsey Pine
“No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel, can avail against the Lord. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord. A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.” (Proverbs 21:30–22:6 NRSV).
Is there any wonder why some of the greatest things that go on in the natural world don’t last or eventually go wrong? And when man claims victory in things, he steals from the Lord, for the victory could not have been won without Him. There is nothing of man that supersedes the works of God. Our own good name is to be sought above all other things in life. To be well thought of and loved by those around us is greater than silver or gold.
Great or small, rich or poor, we all stand before God our maker with the same requirements. We are naked before Him and must seek Him and His kingdom, all of us in the same way no matter our position or wealth. Our true wealth is our stock in God and we must work to increase it day by day until His kingdom comes. Sharing the knowledge of God through Christ Jesus is always greater than any worldly prize that we can share.
It has been said that the true gift to the hungry is to teach them how to farm rather than give them food they did not produce. This is how it is sometimes with our need and hunger for God’s Spirit. We are told that God loves us and is there for us when we are in need, but we don’t know how to till our spiritual ground and sow the seeds of our own Godly garden. The fruitful gifts of God require some preparation on our part.
First, we must place ourselves in a day by day, hour by hour relationship with God through prayer and meditation and godly thinking. Second, we must build up our knowledge of His Word and what it means in our lives. Then, we must take these two and share with one another. We must share to strengthen our love of the Lord and we must share to bring others to Him. Here lies our wealth that no one can come against, that is ours by God’s grace, that gives us our good name and favor from others and that recognizes the origin of all that is good. He is the maker of us all and we come before Him with this in common.
Robert Halsey Pine was born at Newark, Ohio in 1943. He is a graduate of Northeastern University and completed the program of Theological Education by Extension: Education for Ministry, School of Theology, the University of the South.