Rich And Ignorant

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

Several years ago, I had the privilege and distinct joy of taking my beautiful granddaughter, Amri, on an Easter Egg Hunt. She was about five or six at the time. The field where the great hunt took place was littered with a rainbow of candy Easter eggs to the point where one could not take a single step without crushing one of the sweet treasures.  To call it a hunt was a colossal misnomer.  Even a blind person could have scored a bountiful booty by simply falling face down, spread-eagle on the ground and gathering a full wingspan to himself

I was at once amazed and amused as I watched my little one run here, pick up one egg, and then run there and pick up another.  When all was said and done, she may have gathered a dozen eggs even though she could have had a basket full.  If she had just stayed in one place and gathered all that was immediately around her she could have filled her basket in short time, but instead, she went running from one bright attraction to another with absolutely no sense of direction.  She could have “abounded with blessings,” but instead, “she who made haste” came up short.

Aren’t we like that many times?  God has richly blessed us.  His blessings are all around us and yet we fail to see them.  We keep running from one attraction to another and never getting our baskets full and never getting fully satisfied.  I can imagine that as God watches, He is probably more amazed than amused at our frantic search for happiness while He has surrounded us with His blessings.  If we would only slow down long enough to take a good look around, we might see that we are truly rich beyond measure.

In the “Parable of the Soils” Jesus described a soil (a metaphor for people) infested with thorns (the cares of this world).  The sower (God) sows the seed (the Word of God) which falls on different kinds of soil.  Jesus says: “these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” (Mark 4:18-19)  If our focus is on the things of this world, i.e., worries, riches, desire for things, the Word will be choked and we will become unfruitful.  Though we are surrounded by the blessings and true riches of God, we will be oblivious to them, running from one candy egg to the next never having our basket full.

Father, God, give us the wisdom and the sight to see the blessings You have provided.  Help us to have our focus rightly placed on You and not on the deceitful riches of this world, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.