The Folly of Flying Riches Text: Proverbs 23:4-5
Introduction: The Deceitfulness of Mammon
We live in a world that is drunk on the pursuit of wealth. It is the air our culture breathes, the water it drinks, and the religion it practices, albeit unofficially. The high priests of this religion are the titans of industry, the celebrities, and the influencers who parade their acquisitions before a watching and covetous world. The liturgy is the constant hum of the stock market ticker, and the chief end of man, according to this creed, is to acquire more, to store up more, and to die with the most toys. Into this frantic, and frankly idolatrous, scramble for stuff, the book of Proverbs speaks a word of profound and bracing sanity.
The wisdom of God does not condemn wealth as such. Scripture is clear that the blessing of the Lord makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. Abraham was a wealthy man. Job was a wealthy man. God gives the power to get wealth. The issue is not the having of money, but the loving of it. The issue is not the possession of riches, but the pursuit of them as an end in themselves. When the pursuit of wealth becomes the central, organizing principle of a man's life, he has begun to worship at the altar of Mammon. And as the Lord Jesus tells us, you cannot serve both God and Mammon. One will be loved and the other hated.
Our text today is a sharp, pointed warning against this very thing. It is a splash of cold water in the face of the man who is exhausting himself in the service of an idol. It is a call to cease from a particular kind of worldly wisdom that is, in the final analysis, sheer foolishness. The Bible is intensely practical. It is not offering us ethereal platitudes; it is giving us hard-nosed, street-level wisdom for how to navigate the world as it actually is. And one of the fundamental realities of this world is that wealth is a fickle master and a faithless god. It is a bird that is always looking for an opportunity to fly away.
So we are being called to a radical reorientation of our desires and our efforts. We are being called to stop wearing ourselves out for that which does not satisfy and cannot last. This is not a call to laziness, for Proverbs condemns the sluggard on every other page. It is a call to wise labor, directed toward the right ends, and grounded in a right understanding of the world God has made.
The Text
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
Because of your understanding, cease!
Do you make your eyes fly up to see it? But it is not there!
Because it certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
(Proverbs 23:4-5 LSB)
A Prohibition on Frantic Pursuit (v. 4)
We begin with the direct command in verse 4:
"Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Because of your understanding, cease!" (Proverbs 23:4)
The first clause is a command against a certain kind of labor. "Do not weary yourself." The Hebrew word here speaks of toil to the point of exhaustion. This is not a prohibition against diligent work. The book of Proverbs is full of commendations for the diligent man who gathers in summer. He who is diligent in his business will stand before kings. The sluggard, by contrast, is told to go to the ant, consider her ways, and be wise. So, God is not commanding us to be lazy. He is commanding us to check our motives and the ultimate object of our labor.
The target here is the man whose central aim is "to gain wealth." He is not working to provide for his family, to build the kingdom, to serve his neighbor, or to glorify God in his vocation. He is working to be rich. That is the goal. Everything else is secondary. His family, his health, his soul, his church, are all sacrificed on the altar of this pursuit. He is wearying himself, running himself into the ground, for the sake of accumulating money. And God says, "Stop it."
The second clause provides the basis for this command: "Because of your understanding, cease!" This is a fascinating phrase. It could be rendered, "Cease from your own understanding." In other words, stop trusting your own clever schemes for getting rich. Stop relying on your own shrewdness. The world tells you that if you just work harder, longer, and smarter than the next guy, you can guarantee a certain outcome. The world's wisdom says that you are the master of your fate. But biblical wisdom says that this is a lie. "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich" (Proverbs 10:22). It is God who gives the increase. To trust in your own ability to generate wealth is a form of practical atheism. It is to live as though God is not sovereign over the affairs of men. So, the command is to cease from this frantic, self-reliant pursuit. It is a call to rest in the providence of God.
This requires a fundamental shift in our thinking. We are to work hard, yes, but we are to work in faith, trusting God for the results. We are to be diligent, but not driven by anxiety or greed. We are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and trust that all these other things, the necessary material provisions, will be added to us. The man who wears himself out to be rich has forgotten who is God and who is not.
The Illusion of Ephemeral Riches (v. 5)
Verse 5 then gives us a vivid illustration of why this frantic pursuit is such folly.
"Do you make your eyes fly up to see it? But it is not there! Because it certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens." (Proverbs 23:5)
The imagery here is powerful and pointed. The man who is wearying himself to be rich is constantly setting his eyes on his goal. The phrase "make your eyes fly up" captures the intensity of his gaze, the darting, anxious focus of a man obsessed. He is looking for wealth, chasing it, fixated upon it. But the moment he thinks he has it in his sights, it vanishes. "But it is not there!" It is an illusion, a mirage. The closer you get, the faster it recedes.
Why? Because wealth has a nature of its own, and that nature is fugitive. "It certainly makes itself wings." Notice that the riches are personified. They are an active agent in their own disappearance. You think you are in control of your money, but your money has other plans. It is not a loyal servant; it is a wild thing. It is not a rock; it is a bird.
And not just any bird. It makes wings for itself "like an eagle that flies toward the heavens." An eagle is not a sparrow. It is powerful, swift, and flies at a great height. When an eagle decides to leave, you are not going to catch it. It soars out of reach, disappearing into the sky. This is the nature of wealth. It can be gone in an instant. A bad investment, a shift in the market, a lawsuit, a catastrophic illness, a political upheaval, a thief in the night. The man who builds his life on the accumulation of wealth is a man who has built his house on the back of a wild eagle. It is the height of foolishness.
Our Lord Jesus Christ makes the very same point. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). Earthly treasure is insecure by its very nature. It is subject to decay and theft. Heavenly treasure, the treasure of a right relationship with God, is the only truly secure investment.
Conclusion: Wise Labor and Lasting Treasure
So what is the takeaway? Are we to be irresponsible? Are we to neglect our duties and live as paupers? Not at all. The Bible commands diligence and provides for the enjoyment of material blessings. The point is one of priority, posture, and purpose.
Our purpose in labor must be God's glory, not our own enrichment. We work as unto the Lord. Our posture must be one of humble dependence, not arrogant self-reliance. We plant and water, but we know that God gives the increase. Our priority must be the pursuit of wisdom, righteousness, and the kingdom of God above all else. Lady Wisdom herself says, "Riches and honor are with me, enduring riches and righteousness" (Proverbs 8:18). When you get wisdom, you get the blessing of God, which may or may not include material wealth. But if it does, it will be wealth without the sorrow, wealth that is a tool for kingdom purposes, not a trap for your soul.
The man who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf (Proverbs 11:28). The choice before us is simple. We can weary ourselves chasing a wild eagle across the sky, a pursuit that will leave us exhausted and empty-handed. Or, we can cease from our own anxious striving, do our work diligently in the fear of the Lord, and trust Him with the outcome. We can labor for the food that perishes, or we can labor for the food that endures to eternal life.
Do not set your heart on that which is guaranteed to fly away. Do not give your strength for that which cannot satisfy. Cease from your own wisdom. Fear the Lord. Seek His kingdom. Do the work He has given you to do with all your might. And trust your heavenly Father to provide everything you need. That is the path of wisdom, the path of peace, and the only path to treasure that will never sprout wings.