We are told that the two forces that drive most people in our world are Greed and Fear, or Desire for Gain and Fear of Loss. The Stock Market is said to be driven by Fear and Greed. Most people seem to be caught in the turbulence of these two competing streams.
It is to be expected, then, that the Bible would have something to say about these two overwhelming forces in our society and in people’s lives. And, Yes, It Does!
God’s Assurance to Abraham
Way back about 4,000 years ago God spoke to a man named Abram and told him that God would be to him two very important things. Those two things speak directly to the subjects of Fear and Greed, or Protection and Gain.
“After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.” Genesis 15:1
While many people spend their life either “Defending” or “Gaining”, here God declares that He is our Defense and our Gain.
By being our “shield”, God is the one who protects us from all kinds of evil and attack – be it physical, spiritual, evil intentions, litigation, exploitation or whatever. We can sleep easy at night and feel safe during the day, because God is our “shield”.
By being our “reward”, God is the one who brings profit, gain, growth, provision and the like into our lives. So we don’t have to be anxious, competitive, aggressive, opportunistic, exploitative, deceptive or any other wrong motivation, in order to be blessed. In fact God is our “exceeding great reward” – so He brings us real abundance and great blessing.
It Must Be The Lord
While God’s revelation to Abraham is that God, Himself, is the embodiment of our protection and our profit, a further revelation, given to King David, shows that God is to be the only source of those things in our life.
In Psalm 127:1 David declares that unless the Lord is your protection all your preparations to keep yourself safe are a waste of time. And unless God is the one who blesses you, all your efforts to get rich will be fruitless.
“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.” Psalm 127:1
If God is not with your efforts to build your house, or make profit, or build up your assets, or get what you want, then all the work that is put is in vain. It doesn’t matter if you hire the best builders or the cheapest, you are wasting your time trying to get gain when God is not in it.
And if God is not protecting you, then having watchmen, an alarm system, security locks on your windows and doors or a loaded rifle under your pillow will not protect your assets.
Another way to put that is: “It must be the Lord who is involved in your plans to gain wealth, or you will end up with nothing. And it must be the Lord who is protecting you are you will be done in, despite your best efforts.”
God is All
But do you see the significance of what God said to Abraham and David? God is all you need. God is ALL. He is completely sufficient as your profit, gain, reward, blessing and achievement. He is also completely sufficient as your insurance policy, protection plan, security system and safeguard for your future.
You don’t need anything other than God. You don’t need God AND something else. You only need to have God in your life.
God is ALL to us, we can want for no more. To strive to get what God is not giving is to take on God Himself. Before God made any covenant with Abraham He established the fact that outside God there is nothing worth having, and in God there is every-thing we will ever need.
Tags: exceeding great reward, fear, greed, greed and fear, psalm 127 1, your shield
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