Proverbs 10:22,  The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

God, in his word, has given us much to learn about being rich.

In chapter 10 verse 4 we have already studied that he who deals with a slack hand becomes poor but on the contrary the diligent hand will result in riches.

The diligent hand is not slack for a slack hand does not do pushing or pulling or lifting or gripping as God has designed the hand to do.

A slack hand produces nothing but a diligent hand produces everything.

Now there are good things said about being rich and there are bad things said about being rich.

It is not the state of being rich that is of concern but the concern of scripture is how the riches came to be.

Scripture brings to our mind clearly that it is in the seeking of riches where danger lies.

For in the seeking of riches much wealth is obtained in dishonest ways, it becomes that which is trusted in for security, it brings on desires for forbidden things, and its retention can cause constant anxiety.

A poor man doesn’t worry about Wall Street.

Proverbs 28:22, says,  He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

And Proverbs 23:4,5,  Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. ⁵Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

And Proverbs 28:20 says,  A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

But in spite of this clear teaching from God’s word, there are many in this world whose main purpose in life is to amass material things, gold and silver, stocks and bonds, houses and lands.

Isn’t this what makes the world go round in the mind of our leaders who preach that the economy is the most important thing?

I remember President Clinton preaching in his presidential campaign, It’s the economy stupid!

And he was right for the economy and striving to be rich from the economy is what the world majors on.

Now there is nothing inherently wrong in being rich or having gold, silver, stocks, bonds, houses and lands.

The thing that is wrong is in the seeking of those things as your purpose in life, and in that seeking disregarding the things that are truly important, the things that will make you truly rich.

God gives us in his word the priority of life and that priority of life is to seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things will be added unto you.

That little phrase "will be added unto you" tells us that it is God who will see to your needs if you concentrate upon His kingdom, if you concentrate upon his work on this earth.

We are so prone to go directly toward riches but this direct approach is not the way to riches.

If we do His will instead of our own will He will see to it that all of the things we need will be added unto us.

The thinking of most in the world is that the things are primary and God is secondary.

But God is to be primary and the things will follow.

And the man or woman who seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness will have added to him or her all these things without much thought about them or expectation of them.

And will, in the receiving of such blessings, use them with great happiness, pleasure and cheerfulness and will readily communicate them to others.

God intends for you and I to be a channel of blessing and He promises to fill that channel that others may also be blessed.

And in this process there will be no anxiety, distress or sorrow.

God revealed this process, this priority of life early in the scriptures when God gave Moses the commandments written in stone.

Remember the first commandment which tells us the priority of life by telling us that God is to be the first in our life:

Exodus 20:2,3,  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

So from this commandment we learn that the Lord thy God is to be first in your life.

Some folks put their family or their children first in their life.

Some folks put their vocation or their hobbies first in their life.

Others folks have as their god the amassing of things, for we indeed live in a material world and to those who do not have a spirit made alive unto God this material world is all they have.

The amassing of things comes naturally for this man or this woman, does not have a knowledge of God.

But to believers who have been made alive unto God and to the things of God by being born of the Spirit, their concentration is to be upon that which is above this world, the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Paul in his first letter to Timothy wrapped up this message so succinctly.

I Timothy 6:6-12,  But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

So the man or woman of God is to flee those things of the world in favor of receiving the blessing of the Lord for as we read in our proverb for the day, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and He addeth no sorrow with it.

We have already studied Proverbs 10:4 which told us the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

So within this proverb and our proverb for today we can develop a principle regarding how to be rich without being caught in a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which lead to destruction.

And that principle is that the diligent man or woman with the blessing of God upon that diligence will be rich without adding sorrow and he or she will be the right kind of rich.

In your Christian walk it is all important to have the blessing of God in your life.

Oh, how we must covet God’s blessings over man’s blessings.

Remember this verse:

II Timothy 2:15,  Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

I have quoted this verse many times in our recent studies for it pertains here in our quest for God’s blessing.

We study to make sure we are approved of God.

We absorb God’s manual to make sure that our life is put together according to God’s instruction book.

We make every attempt to know God’s word and to obey God’s word so that God will bless us.

This word blessing means prosperity.

So it is important to have the prosperity of God in your life.

In other words how prosperous is God in your life.

By bringing you into this world God expects a profit.

He is a husbandman and like every husbandman looks to the crop for a profit.

He has made an investment in your life and He expects an increase.

We breathe His air, we eat His food and drink His water, we occupy His land, and in doing this He expects an increase.

But that increase will only come when we follow His word.

God is not prosperous in a life that does not follow his word.

Look at it this way.

You ladies may choose to make a cake.

My wife made one of her signature cakes in honor of my sister’s visit this week.

A very, very, tasty chocolate Eisenhower cake with delicious white cream frosting.

We still have some left and if you ask nicely maybe she will bring you a piece.

So if you choose to make a cake most of you will get the recipe book out, find out what ingredients are called for, assemble those ingredients, put them together by the proper measure, pour them into the cake pan and bake the cake at the proper temperature for the prescribed time.

If you are faithful to the recipe you will get the expected result.

The cake will be as advertised and by following the recipe you are blessed and all those who eat the cake will also be blessed.

Now if you choose to be creative and leave out the eggs the product you get will not be what the cook book author expected and therefore you, nor anyone else, will be blessed by the cake.

God’s blessing is easy to come by, just follow the recipe!

God is not fickle, he doesn’t change the rules, he doesn’t confound his creation.

His creation is designed to follow His recipe book for life and in so doing his creation is blessed.

And that is why Solomon in the book of Proverbs can say the blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.

By adding the phrase "and He addeth no sorrow with it" it tells us that there are blessings apart from God that have sorrow attached to them.

From experience I know these blessings are blessings that the world offers for the world has plenty of blessings to go around.

But there are in many of these blessings of the world a down-side.

There seems to be a high price to be paid for the blessings of the world, a dues that Satan requires of his children.

God’s children are given God’s word in the use of God’s blessings and in so doing sorrows are avoided, but the world’s blessings come without instruction and because of the lack of understanding sorrows come as a natural consequence.

Money is nice to have, but how do we use money in the most responsible way?

How do we use it without getting into trouble with it.

How do we use it without it bringing sorrow to our families?

Abraham’s nephew Lot chose the well watered plains of Sodom.

But remember the harsh result of his seeking the blessings of the land instead of the blessings of God!

How he fled the fire and brimstone of that land with the picture of his salt covered wife impressed on his mind to be followed by incest with his two daughters.

Remember Haman, the nemesis of Mordecai, who craved power and wealth in the kingdom of Esther, but whose neck was stretched by the hangman’s rope.

And remember the young man who asked our Lord Jesus Christ what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

And Jesus knew that money was his god and after telling him to go and sell what he had and give it to the poor went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.

I believe that millions will eventually see sorrow when they see the eternal things they gave up in order to worship the god of this world’s money.

And foods are also a great blessing to us but they can harm us greatly and bring much sorrow when eaten without discipline.

Uncontrolled appetites can bring much sorrow.

Addicting substances may bring temporary happiness and gaiety, but what about the sorrow that comes afterward not only to the user but to all who care for him or her.

Watching certain entertainments may bless momentarily, but what about the certain down-side of letting our eyes gaze upon such base things that hurt the soul.

Can we stand the nagging of our conscience and the effect on our testimony?

What about the blessings of fame.

It seems we see the sorrows that accompany fame on a daily basis.

Fame on this earth usually comes with a price, a price not even considered by those who pursue her.

But this verse tells us that the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and it does not come with sorrow.

Solomon tells us that when the Lord gives blessing it does not include sorrow.

What is the down-side of salvation?

There are no strings attached. Salvation has no sorrow.

Where is the sorrow in eternal life?

Will we get bored by such long life?

Certainly not, for we will be in the presence of our Savior.

What is the down-side of heaven?

Will some have a hovel instead of a mansion?

Will the rooms be too small and not decorated to our taste?

What is the negative side of Wisdom and Grace?

If the Spirit gives you more of the fruit of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, will it make you sad?

Will it bring sorrow to your heart?

Do we say, Oh, I have too much peace, it makes me miserable.

Will we get tired of having too much joy?

No, definitely not for there is no sorrow with the blessing of the Lord.

For the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it.

Our striving should be a striving after the Lord and not after the blessings of this world.

And I will end with this: Isaiah 55:6-9,   Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Sometimes it is so hard for us to pardon another but our God will abundantly pardon.

His thoughts are not your thoughts for His ways are higher than your ways!