“Humility, the fear of the Lord, results in wealth, honor, and life.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22‬:‭4‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I read this and my first thought was, “Well, that’s clearly not true.”

And it’s not, right? In fact, the Bible itself says otherwise. If you’re reading the Bible in order, you recently finished reading Job. That guy feared the Lord. God said so Himself. And yet, he was really poor, sick, and despised for a big chunk of his life. So what’s up?

Proverbs is one of the “wisdom” books in the Bible. The other two are Ecclesiastes and Job. They balance each other out. Proverbs is full of pithy advice that is true generally. It points out that people who fear the Lord have wisdom and will generally build a better life. But we all know life is full of exceptions. Job shows me one glaring exception. Ecclesiastes contemplates all the anomalies – we all die, our lives are just blips in the grand scheme of things, and we can’t really control any of it. Dark stuff. But even the author of Ecclesiastes comes to the same conclusion found in today’s verse. That is, my life will be better if I humbly fear God — trust Him, listen to Him, obey Him, love Him. And don’t worry about the rest.

I will still have many troubles. Guaranteed. But if I look to God and follow His wise advice, He will guide me down paths that work out better in the long run for me and everyone else. Plus He will be with me through it all. I will have what I need, my integrity will garner respect from people who matter, and I will have eternal life.

Dear God,

Thank you for your gift of wisdom. I humbly accept it. Teach me how to use it in this fallen world. Forgive me for worrying about things I can’t control. Remind me that you are in control and you love me.