Wisdom and Prosperity
(week 35/04)
Olubi Johnson
Proverbs 8:12,14-21: I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.14 Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have nderstanding and power. 15 By me kings reign and rulers make laws that are just; 16 by me princes govern, and all nobles who rule on earth. 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. 18 With me are riches and honour, enduring wealth and prosperity. 19 My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver. 20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, 21 bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full.
Here the scriptures reveal to us that with the wisdom of God we can obtain enduring wealth and prosperity.
It is vital to obtain prosperity by divine wisdom and not just by natural wisdom alone. In fact there is a wisdom that is earthly, sensual and devilish (Jam. 1.17) that can be used to obtain a certain degree of material prosperity, but such prosperity will be limited and will not be enduring and can be destructive:
Proverbs 1:32 KJV: For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
Psalms 73:3: or I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 12 Behold, these are the ungodly, Who are always at ease; They increase in riches. 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction.
Furthermore, it is vital not only to get divine wisdom but also to retain it.
Recall that Solomon, who incidentally wrote the book of proverbs from which we are quoting, did not retain the wisdom of God and so his prosperity destroyed him. Solomon blatantly disobeyed the instructions of God to the kings of Israel (and also to us today) to read, meditate, confess and practice God’s Word and so pray daily. So he, like many lazy and careless Christians today, lost the wisdom of God and the prosperity God gave him destroyed him causing him to marry foreign wives that turned his heart from God.
Deuteronomy 17:14-20 NKJV: you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ 17 “Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. 18 “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
Notice here that God was not against the multiplication of the gold and silver: He was against using it for selfish purposes alone. The financial and material blessings God gives us is for us to have our needs met (Phil.4.19) and to enjoy the good things of this life (1Tim.6.17). However, the abundance is to be used, firstly and primarily for the preaching and demonstration of the gospel and then helping the poor in a way to witness to the world so complementing the preaching of the gospel: the church is not only a social or charitable organisation: it is a spiritual organisation that performs social and charitable deeds to demonstrate the love of God to the world.
It will take great financial, material and human resources to preach and disciple the un-reached tribes and the nations who have not yet been discipled (Mat.28.18-20).
1 Kings 11:4 NKJV: For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.
The lesson from Solomon’s life is instructive: no matter how well you know God and have walked with him, if you start neglecting your daily fellowship with God in prayer and the Word you will lose the wisdom of God you once had and whatever prosperity God gave you will become corrupted and destroy you.
What then is the wisdom of God to prosper and how do you retain it?
The wisdom of God to prosper financially and materially is to sow, water and harvest financial seeds (2Cor.9.6-11):
1. Sow by promptly, regularly and completely giving your tithes and offerings (Mal. 3.10-12, Heb.7.8).
2. Water by maintaining a fruitful daily prayer life and walk in the spirit (Gal. 5.16, Eph. 6.18).
3. Harvest by doing something God (2Th. 3.10) can bless and investing in honest (Tit.3.14), profitable ventures: businesses, shares, and real estate.
When you sow and water, properly you will not love your life in this world unto the death: see our article on ‘Wisdom and weapons of war’ This attitude of not loving your life unto the death will ascertain that you will not lose or corrupt your divine wisdom or prosperity. We see an example of this in Daniel:
Daniel 6:10: Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened towards Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Daniel 6:16: So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”
Daniel 6:25-28 NIV: Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language throughout the land: “May you prosper greatly! 26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures for ever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. 27 He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” 28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.(The Holy Bible: New International Version.)
In this end-time, God is about to greatly prosper us His people: a prosperity that will far exceed what Solomon had (Mat.11.42), that will enable us as individuals and local churches to lend to nations(Dt.28.10-13).
For this to happen in your personal life, you must have a solid foundation in prayer, the Word and divine love: not loving your life in this world unto the death as shown in the example of Daniel above. Then you need to understand how (Matt. 16.8) to become an investor in shares, bonds and stocks, real estate and profitable businesses.
