Daily Bible Study for Monday September
5, 2016
By: Hanny Lynn Stearns
Fish N
Loaves Ministries, Inc.
“Multiplying
God’s Word Around The Globe”
Chapter Reading
for Today: Please read in
your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered
paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate
translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful
for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their
wording. I hope this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version,
that is fine. I am studying from the KJV, but for the purpose of this study, I
will keep it with the New King James Version.
One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my
own writing. I am adding red to the letters when
it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.
Bible
Gateway Verse of the Day
Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All
authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Psalm
100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless
His name.
Song: Seek First By: Amy Grant (You Tube)
Psalm 49
The Futility Of Riches
Where else but the Bible can we go for true wisdom, truth and
understanding? Apart from the word of God and Holy Spirit, it does not exist.
In today’s chapter, we will get some very poignant truth about what happens to
those who place their trust in wealth – aka, money and earthly “status.” Let’s
pray…
Heavenly Father;
You are the source of true wealth. In Your storehouse there
are treasures forever more. Nothing in this earth can ever do what You can. Our
lives and our eternity is meaningless without you. Father, I ask You today to
speak through my mind, my heart and my hands once again to bring deep spiritual
truth, wisdom and understanding to us, Your precious children. Bring more
people from across the globe to seek the truth and comfort of Your presence and
Your word. Cause this message to go out unhindered and unchecked by any outside
force or my flesh. Father, we are so grateful that You always watch over Your
word to perform it in our lives when we trust and obey You. We purpose in our
hearts to be doers of Your word and not just forgetful hearers. Shine Your
revelation light on our hearts today and we thank You in advance for changing
us to make us to think, act and believe like Jesus - our Master. In Jesus name.
Amen.
The dominating theme in our
study today is about those who place their trust in wealth. Fame, fortune,
beauty and status in this world are so fleeting. They are here today and gone
tomorrow. People who think they are wise are in reality of the most foolish
people because they are placing their hope and trust in themselves and their
accumulation of wealth. We have multi-billionaires across the globe who are some
of the most miserable people on the planet. We have countless movie and music starts
who have lost their lives to addiction and depression. They rose to fame and
fortune quickly and once they reached the top, they quickly discovered that
what they were looking for was not even there. There was no place else to go
but down.
This is not a message that
promotes poverty if we are going to follow Christ. Jesus never preached that,
though much of the known world today will argue that point. Millions of church
going Christians will try to say that to be like Jesus we have to be poor. But
here is what the Bible says…
2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him so we could have peace…
Isaiah 53:5
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are
healed.
He was wounded so we could be
healed. He opened not His mouth so we could open ours. All these truths can be
found within the pages of scripture, but many have made up their own tradition
of what it means to follow Jesus. When it came to money, the key thing that
Jesus was looking for was the heart. Did a man love his money? If he did, he
could not love God. With God it is all about the heart. While being wealthy is
an entirely different message that we could expand upon widely, we will focus
on what happens to those who think this life and its financial goods are all
that our lives have to offer. Seeking riches really is futile.
As I read through this Psalm
today, I thought about many people I have seen in my lifetime who were super wealthy.
I can attest to the fact that they did not seem happy. Some of them did not
even seem human to me. I grew up poor. We had barely enough to get by. It was
only the grace of God that kept food on our table and a roof over our heads. We
always lived right on the edge. Whenever I would get around wealthy people, I
felt uneasy. I didn’t know why, but there was something I just couldn’t get
comfortable with. There was a big difference between them and me, yet I was
never sure why.
Once we went to one of those
antique car ‘street shows’. There was to be a parade of antique cars rolling
through the streets of the tiny tourist town. Their owners were waving their
hands as they rode in along in proud display of their goods. I remember seeing
the faces of some very wealthy people roll past us. I have always appreciated
antique cars. I like lots of models of cars – I was always a bit of a “Tom Boy”
in that way. But as those cars went by me, I found myself looking more into
their faces than I did the cars. I wondered why they looked so unhappy. They
had beautiful cars and what seemed like the finest clothes that money could buy.
Some of their faces looked just like a statue made out of stone.
I have had other encounters
with the wealthy, and every time I thought they never seemed “quite right.” As I
came to know the Lord on a deeper level I began to understand where true riches
really come from. I learned that there is no price that can be placed on the
one thing that means the most to any man’s life – the saving of their souls. Like
the chapter today says, no one can offer a ransom to God for their soul or the
soul of a brother. There is only One who could pay the price for our salvation,
and His name is JESUS! He is the Christ, the Savior of all mankind. He is not
something one can buy or persuade with money. He is a precious free gift from
the hand of our loving Father in heaven.The one thing that matters most where
understanding is concerned is the fear of the Lord…
Proverbs 9:10
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Even though this is the basis
of all truth that leads to life, millions and millions across the globe are
living their lives as if there was no God. Oh but there is a God! He has proven
Himself over and over in countless ways. Many close their eyes to those truths
and forge ahead in plowing their way through this life. There are many who
inherit great wealth, while others will come up from poverty and work
themselves to the level of millionaire or multimillionaire status. They are
foolish enough to think it was their own ideas that made them rich. It is God
who gives us the knowledge and wisdom to increase wealth…
Ecclesiastes 2:26
For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner
He gives the work of gathering and collecting,
that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
All wealth producing ideas come from God. For the man who does not honor
God with that, he will one day hand it over to the righteous in God’s sight.
Those who are of an upright heart before the Lord will have authority over
those who are wealthy, yet foolish. In the end they pass away. When they die,
their mass fortunes get handed off to someone else and there they stand before
the Lord trying to explain why they spent their lives on blessing themselves
and seeking their own pleasures rather than blessing others. They will have no
reward for all their efforts and their end will be destruction…
Proverbs 11:4
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but
righteousness delivers from death.
Proverbs 11:28
He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like
foliage.
Proverbs 13:7
There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; and one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.
Proverbs 27:20
Hell and Destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never
satisfied.
We see or hear of people all
the time who work night and day to gain riches because they are never satisfied
with what they currently have. Man always wants more. Those who live selfishly
will get their fill in this life, but they will never be happy because they did
not seek true riches – in the kingdom of God. The Lord wants His people to be
wealthy. We have lots of scripture to back up this statement. As I mentioned earlier
however, we will not study that topic today.
The key points the Lord used
in this Psalm today was to make it clear that we should not be afraid of, not
envious of those who seem to “make it rich” in this life while living like the
devil. The Lord will never stop someone from gaining the benefit from his
labors. It is not God who takes away. We must remember it is the devil. So satan
drags these poor foolish souls along in their little bubble of wealth and
comfort and lulls them into a deep spiritual sleep, thinking, “All is well. I
have more than enough money to take care of me and mine for many lifetimes.” In
the end, it will bite like a snake around their throats!
The devil is a snake – a venomous
viper that is lurking to lull as many as he can into an eternity in the pit of
hell with him. He is not going to get in the way of those who are prospering
while despising God. He will wait and welcome them into the torturous chambers
of hell when this life is over before the ink is even dry on the money
transfers from their vast estates. We will not see their limousines pulling
U-Haul trucks to the cemetery loaded up with any fine gold or jewelry either.
Many laugh and rejoice that they are gone from the earth. Those who “loved them
to their faces” in life now sneer at them in death.
Is this anything for a saved
child of God to concern themselves with? Certainly not. We can look forward to
the great promise in verse 15 of today’s chapter…
Psalm 49:15
But God will
redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me.
Friends, we have something to look forward to
after this life. The Lord wants us to have wealth. He knows that it takes cold
cash to get things done in the earth. Does the Lord have a lot of work that He
wants done while the earth remains? You bet He does! And He knows what it
takes. So there are a couple of basic facts that we have to trust in here as
children of God. One is that He alone is our Provider. The other is the key to
a successful journey while we follow Him in this life…
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
When
we are seeking God first in our hearts, finances, and our time, we will be
prospered. The blessing of the Lord will…
Proverbs
10:22
The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.
If our life’s one desire is to spend and be spent on the things of God,
you and I will never lack any good thing. Again, we can make an entire study,
and a lengthy one at that from the scriptures about the Lord’s desire to bless
and prosper His people. It all started in the garden and He has never changed
His mind on that. But the theme for today was to encourage the believer not to place
their eyes on the prosperity of those who despise God. We should not be sitting
around and wondering or saying things like, “Why am I sitting here so broke
when Joe Smith over there who never goes to church has everything he could
possibly want?”
Friends, that is a wrong heart and it is the wrong question. What we
should be asking the Lord is, “Why am I not prospering Lord? Have I been
unwilling? Have I been disobedient to Your commands to me? Have I been carrying
bitterness and unforgiveness in my heart? Lord, if there is any roadblock to my
prosperity that I am not seeing, show me.” This should be the prayer and cry of
our hearts to the Lord.
He wants a return on His investment saints. Just this weekend my husband
and I leaned much about the parable of the talents and how the Lord is looking
for a wise and faithful steward. He wants to give us millions to handle big
jobs for the kingdom. He wants to give us nice things to enjoy in our own
personal lives too. But when we have been showing Him that we cannot be
faithful with that which is a little amount, He knows good and well that we
wouldn’t do well with a big amount. It never works that way. If you give a poor
man on the street a million dollars, he will spend it like it was water running
out of his hands unless he turns his life and purposes over to the leading of
the Lord. He will not prosper with a poverty mindset, or a heart that is self-serving.
God redeems those who have gained godly wisdom and understanding. He
spares their lives from destruction and that is the best destination of all – a
life that is not headed to an earthly bank, but a soul that is soaring toward
heaven one day. Will that be you?
Questions:
What or “who” was doing the talking in today’s chapter
according to verses 3 & 4?
What does the Bible say about the redemption of a soul?
What is the only way a person can get to heaven?
What does this chapter tell us about the hope of those who
are rich in money but don’t have Jesus?
What happens to their belongings?
What will the upright have when it comes to dealing with the
rich who don’t have Jesus?
Why is it important to not be concerned about the wealth of
the wicked?
There
are three main points to consider from today’s study…
The only real truth, wisdom and
understanding can come from God and His word
Ungodly rich people will lose it all
in the end
Seek first God’s kingdom and His
righteousness
Let’s
pray…
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for sending us the Way, the Truth and
the Life from heaven – Jesus. Father, thank You for giving us true riches in
Your Son Jesus by redeeming our souls from the pit of hell. Lord, I ask You to
use me to do Your kingdom work. I desire to seek You first. If there is
anything that has been getting in the way of my prosperity, I ask You to show
me. Father, I want to be a blessing to others. Help me see what I have not been
able to see in this. Thank You in advance for the help in the mighty name of
Jesus. Amen.
What
are you seeking first – God or money?
And God Said… You fill in the blanks.
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