Would you ever pray for God NOT to make you rich?

“Why would I do that?”, you ask. “I wouldn’t ask God just to make me rich for my own sake. I would use the money to do many good works that will please God! So, I would like God to make me rich!”, you would say…

Perhaps you are stronger than me in that you won’t be tempted by the riches. But I know I will be. Therefore, I have prayed and I still do pray time to time that God won’t make me rich. (Although I am rich compare to most people on earth…) The reason why I know I will be tempted to fall away from God once I became rich is because I know I’m not better than most men. Better men than me have acquired riches and they fell away from God. I’m not very confident that I won’t if God were to make me rich. Therefore, I ask God to spare me and not make me rich.

Give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is needful for me,

lest I be full and deny you

and say, “who is the Lord?”

or lest I be poor and steal

and profane the name of my God.

– Prov. 30:7-9

This (falling away) happened to Solomon. He was a man smarter than all of us. The Bible says so. He understood science, math, psychology, literature, administration, etc. He was a man like no other. And yet, he fell away from the Lord through his many riches and many wives, which God specifically forbade the kings of Israel. (1 Kings 4:20-34)

It’s foolish for me to think, “Yeah, but that was Solomon. I’m not him. I will do better.” I won’t do better. And even if I did, I still wouldn’t want to take a chance. It’s just not worth it. It won’t bring permanent happiness I am looking for.

The key to happiness is being content with our current circumstances. It really is. Don’t waste your life imagining what it would be like to win that $1 billion Powerball lottery. It will solve a couple of your problems but will add hundreds more.

PH