Those who trust in their riches will fall,
but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.
Summary: Parsing the meaning of a proverb is a bit like solving a puzzle. What does each piece mean? Today we look at what it means to be a green leaf.
When I first read this passage, my eye was drawn to the phrase, “like a green leaf.” What does that mean? Looking up the Hebrew word “ʿālê” I learned that the word can mean “leaf” or “branches.” So essentially, it can mean “a” leaf, or the word can also mean lots of leaves. In the fall, leaves, like flowers, can fade and die. In this case, the leaves are green and growing.
“Falling” is something I don’t need to look up to understand. When I fall, it hurts. I no longer “bounce” like I did when I was younger. Now things break when I fall.
Solomon, in his never-ending quest to help us understand the difference between wickedness and righteousness, lays out a choice for us; trusting in riches or being righteous.
We have already talked about what it means to be righteous. In simple terms, it is doing what is right. Not what is right in our own eyes, but what is right in God’s eyes. Trusting in our riches is putting faith in ourselves and our own limited power.
Where does the person go who trusts in their own money? They go to the bank to withdraw power. They use that power to deal with the challenges of life. Are we sick? We use money to hire doctors and nurses to do things we hope will help. Are we lonely? We use money to entice others to spend time with us. Do we need to have something done? Again, money comes to our aid.
But how much money does a person need? Can money buy peace of mind? Does it buy happiness? Is it full of unfailing love for you?
Of course not!
Money isn’t cruel, but it is indifferent. Money is a thing. It is an expression of economic value. It is a measure of exchange. Money doesn’t care if you live or die. It exists apart from you and if it could, it would laugh.
The righteous trust in God. No, it doesn’t say that in the Bible exactly, but it seems obvious to me. You can’t be righteous without pleasing God, and I can’t imagine anyone pleasing God without trusting him. Besides, Solomon has contrasted “trust in riches” with the “righteous.” It seems reasonable to extrapolate from his words that the righteous trust in God.
Trusting in money only works under two conditions. First, you have to have money. Second, the money you have needs to be able to purchase what you want. Sometimes what a person wants is not for sale.
The righteous trust in God and because they do, they thrive. Like leaves that bud in the spring and grow strong and full throughout the year, the righteous are nurtured by the branch. They do not depend on human constructs like money.
I think I’d rather be a leaf.
Application: Strive for righteousness.
Food for Thought: How do you know what you will lean on when you come up against a problem in life?
Habits.
If you’ve practiced leaning on God for everything, good and bad, you’ll most likely continue to.
But same for anything, practice leaning on money…. On walls… On that one skill you have…. On that person…. On that lucky shirt…. On the weather….. On crying….. Whatever you go to, in order to make your life good or fix what’s happening, regardless of how ridiculous it is will be what you turn to when it really matters.
A —
Good answer. As a former traffic engineer I have been known to rant about people who run stop signs. Same principle. If they decide to run one, they run all and inevitably there is a near-miss or a collision in their future…
I agree with “A.” We need to prepare for trouble by trusting in the Lord as our default position. Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego knew they would not bow to the king’s idol before there was ever an idol to bow to in the first place.
Great point, Rich.
When serving God is established in our mind, there is no question about what we are to do when we are challenged with an idol.
06-26-2022, Proverbs 11:28, How do you know what you will lean on when you come up against a problem in life?
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Romans 12:1-3
The gospel leaves no one the same. It is either the sweet flavor of life to life or it is the bitter flavor of death to death. Those who belong to Christ, His Church, no longer live as though nothing has taken place in our lives. We must learn to live in reality, to walk in obedience to the faith we profess. We must learn to reject the lies of this world and live in the truth’s of God.
The life of the believer is rewarded far above anything the greatest human mind will ever conceive. God’s will for each is the only logical, consistent, stable way of life available to the human race. It should be a matter of course as with gratitude all believers choose to live for God and glorify Him in our lives.
We have learned to know Christ and we now realize He demands a life of devotion to Himself. A life which is unspotted by the sin of this world. We have learned to know Him as the One who leads to a totally different, essential outlook and goals in life. As we learn to know Him we will naturally flee from the kind of life we see in the world.
All true believers are in the process of learning to lean on Christ, share His yoke as we pass from test to test, and live as an example to others while we grow in our relationship with God. We live a life learning to trust in the Spirit to bring growing life to our spirits as we reject the desires of our flesh to fear and complain when we are chosen by God to endure a period of growth.
Lean on Jesus as we allow God’s sovereign will to be done in our lives, just as He has done for each of us.
Ron,
Well said. I love your observation that “the Gospel leaves no one the same.” Amen!
One thing that has helped me is writing things down. Everything from blessing to curses, good things in my life and the bad things in life. I am able to grow with and from these experiences. I ask God for the answers, He leads me to writing things down. Pro’s and con’s in order to make a rational decision.
I like to think I lean on the wisdom God has granted me by asking Him for it.
Recently I had to make a decision whether to hold on to an employee that was causing problems within the ranks that was bringing the moral of other down by degrading and not listening. I went to God for wisdom and an answer. This employee was literally destroying the fence company. I wrote out a list of pros and cons for letting this guy go. The pros out weighed the cons. I asked for someone to stop by so I could have a sounding board. A veteran buddy of mine showed up. I was able to talk it out, so I wrote out a list of reasons why I was letting him go and then handed it to him on Monday. When I gave him the list of reasons, he folded the piece of paper up and said to me,..”I don’t know what I am doing wrong”, that right there told me that I made the right decision. One of the reasons on the list is he has problems listening and following instructions.
The next day I was thanked by all the other employees for my decision. They were surprised. This guy that I terminated happened to make the company a lot of money because he was fast and has a system. But he was hard on others, no one wanted to work with him and tension was on the rise with anyone I assigned to his truck. Yes he was a foreman. Sometimes there are straws that will break a camels back. The Friday I started the process of talking with God over this was that straw. God knew it had to happen. The company is on repair and will continue to strive and thrive. Sometimes God needs to lop of branches to produce new fruit.
So,..here is another instance in my leaning on God. we had saved up some money for a small kitchen remodel. Not much, $15,000.00 we only asked for the lower cabinets, floor, kitchen sink and some backsplash. When the contractor finally was able to get started the cabinets were torn out. The contractor told me that the water pipes that came up through the floor of our 1911 house needed to be relocated to come through the wall. There wasn’t much pressure in the lines, I had just replaced the water heater and flow was at a minimum because of the 70 year old 1/2″ galv. pipes. The plumber that the contractor had come in to relocate wound up breaking the water line someplace under the house where there is no crawl space. I told him that we needed to repipe the house. He wasn’t listening to me and went ahead with his plan to just relocate. So when he was finished his work he went to turn the water on from the street and there was no pressure at all. He stopped what he was doing and left to project. I was wondering why the hot water heater was gurgling and went out to the meter to look to see if there was pressure . Sure enough the meter was spinning like a top that wouldn’t stop until I turned the water off at the meter. I called the plumber I have used in the past, we wound up re-piping the whole house seven fixtures including digging a trench 50 feet long 28″ deep to run a new water line from the meter to the house where there is now a main shut off valve.
Anyway, by leaning on God with this one not having enough for the re-pipe that came in around $17,000.00 that was a total unexpected hit as well as a back tax from the state they say I owe for some reason. I was relying on God alright. So leaning on God I went to take a loan out to pay for all this. He has strengthened my credit to sign for a 20,000.00 personal loan to help pay for all this. All without putting our house in jeopardy with the bank since we own it outright.
I remember praying to God about all this, there was this small still voice in my head saying, “I got this John”, that voice has given me comfort with what has been going on lately because I know that He has got this,..
Money is important in this world we live in but more importantly it is for me to remember just where the money is coming from and just Whose economy I am in.
Yeah I lean on God alot and am really honest with Him in my requests for living in this world that seems to revolve around money.
Thanks for another great meditation
John,
Thank you for sharing your stories! I always learn something from them. I love how you write things down with “pro’s and con’s” and weigh out your decisions. I also appreciate your story about the kitchen and the contractor who didn’t listen. It sounds like you handled that in a way that reflects Christ in your life. These kind of stories help me when I struggle with similar situations.
How do you know what you will lean on when you come up against a problem in life?
I have been taught you train like you fight and you fight like you train. I’m thankful that I have found a new weapon to combat problems of this world. I fight now from a position I never would have thought of before knowing Jesus. I fight many battles today on my knees.
Tim,
Your words on this topic carry special meaning. I have blundered through life on a very different path, yet we have ended up at the same place. Thank you for sharing your insights. They help me.