The Fountainhead of Wealth: Proverbs 10:22
Introduction: Two Kinds of Rich
We live in an age that is utterly confused about money. On the one hand, you have the greasy prosperity preachers, turning the grace of God into a cosmic slot machine. Put in your faith-quarter, pull the lever, and out comes a Cadillac. They treat God like a means to an end, and that end is almost always material. On the other hand, you have the sour-faced pietists, who act as though poverty were next to godliness and that there is something inherently sinful about a balanced checkbook. Both are reacting, and reacting badly, to the biblical truth about wealth.
The Bible, and Proverbs in particular, is intensely practical. It is not afraid to talk about money, barns, presses, and income. But it always, always, puts these things in their proper covenantal context. Material things are never ultimate, but neither are they irrelevant. They are counters in our relationship with God. They are either blessings or curses, depending entirely on the state of the heart of the one who possesses them.
Our text today cuts right through the modern confusion with a sharp, two-edged distinction. It teaches us that there are fundamentally two kinds of wealth in the world. There is the wealth that comes as a direct blessing from the hand of God, and there is every other kind. And the tell-tale sign that distinguishes the one from the other is the presence or absence of sorrow. One kind of rich comes with a profound peace and joy. The other kind comes with anxiety, strife, fear, and ultimately, judgment. The issue is not the dollar amount. The issue is the source.
The Text
It is the blessing of Yahweh that makes rich,
And He adds no pain with it.
(Proverbs 10:22 LSB)
The Divine Source (Clause 1)
The first half of the proverb establishes the ultimate and only true source of lasting wealth.
"It is the blessing of Yahweh that makes rich..." (Proverbs 10:22a)
This is a foundational statement of economic reality. It is not your cleverness, not your hard work, not your inheritance, and not the stock market that ultimately makes you rich. It is the blessing of Yahweh. Now, this does not mean that hard work and wisdom are unimportant. Proverbs is full of exhortations to diligence and condemnations of sloth. But it does mean that our labor is secondary. It is instrumental. God is the ultimate cause; our faithfulness is the intermediate cause. God ordinarily blesses the diligent man, the wise man, the man who honors Him with the firstfruits of his increase (Prov. 3:9-10). But we must never confuse the instrument with the agent.
To believe this verse is to reject the core assumption of secular materialism. The secularist believes that wealth is the result of human effort interacting with impersonal economic forces. The Christian knows that wealth is a gift from a personal God. This is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of financial wisdom, just as it is the beginning of all other wisdom. Before you go to the workbench or the spreadsheet, you must first go to God. You must settle your identity in Christ before you try to make a living.
This phrase, "the blessing of Yahweh," is covenantal language. It refers to God's favor resting upon His people. This is not a mechanical formula. It is a personal relationship. God gives good gifts to His children. This doesn't mean every faithful Christian will be a millionaire. But it does mean that whatever a faithful Christian has, whether it is ten dollars or ten million, it can rest under the blessing of God. And it is our duty to seek that blessing on whatever we have. To think you can get on just fine without God's blessing, trusting in your own abilities or your possessions, is to set yourself up for a catastrophic fall (Prov. 11:28).
So the first principle of biblical economics is this: wealth is not an end in itself. It is an indicator of your relationship with God. Is your life, your work, and your stuff under His blessing? If so, you are truly rich, regardless of the numbers. If not, you are truly poor, even if you own the world.
The Divine Fruit (Clause 2)
The second clause gives us the unmistakable sign of God-given wealth. It tells us what this kind of prosperity feels like.
"And He adds no pain with it." (Proverbs 10:22b)
The word translated here as "pain" is the Hebrew word for sorrow, toil, or grief. This is a direct echo of the curse in Genesis 3. To Adam, God said, "Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life" (Gen. 3:17). The fall introduced sorrowful toil into the very fabric of man's work. Man was created to work, to exercise dominion, but sin twisted that work into a frustrating, painful striving.
This proverb, then, is a glimpse of the gospel. It is a promise that in the blessing of Yahweh, the curse is reversed. God-given wealth is not the anxious, grasping, ulcer-inducing wealth of the world. The man who gets rich by cutting corners, by oppressing the poor, by sheer, godless ambition, gets a package deal. He gets the money, but he also gets the sorrow. He gets the big house, but he also gets the sleepless nights. He gets the portfolio, but he also gets the broken relationships. "In the revenues of the wicked is trouble" (Prov. 15:6).
But when God blesses a man's labor, He gives the gift cleanly. He gives wealth without the attendant grief. This is not to say that a godly rich man will have no troubles. Job was a righteous and wealthy man, and he suffered immensely. But his suffering was not caused by his wealth; it was a trial of his faith. The sorrow that this proverb speaks of is the kind that is baked into the very nature of ill-gotten or idolized gain. It is the sorrow of a man who has the whole world and an empty soul.
The man who receives his wealth as a gift from God can enjoy it. He can be generous with it. He can sleep at night. He knows that God, who gave it, can also sustain it, or take it away, according to His good pleasure. His security is not in the gift, but in the Giver. This is the freedom that the world, in its frantic pursuit of mammon, can never know. Mammon always brings sorrow. Mammon enables the world to sit on top of you. But the blessing of Yahweh sets you free.
Conclusion: Seeking the True Treasure
So what is the application? It is profoundly simple. Do not seek to be rich. Seek the blessing of the Lord. Honor the Lord with your substance. Be diligent in your calling. Be generous to the poor. Deal honestly in all your affairs. And then, trust God with the results. Whether He gives you little or much, receive it with gratitude as from a loving Father's hand.
We must see that this proverb points us directly to Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate blessing of Yahweh. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3). Through His painful toil on the cross, He purchased for us a treasure that is entirely without sorrow. He took the curse, the pain, and the grief upon Himself, so that He could give us the blessing of eternal life.
The gospel is not a prosperity gospel that promises you a bigger car. It is an infinitely better gospel that promises you Christ. And when you have Christ, you have everything. You have the blessing of Yahweh. And with that blessing, whether you have a little or a lot in this life, you are truly rich. He gives you Himself, and He adds no sorrow with it. That is a peace that passes all understanding, and it is the only wealth that will last into eternity.