1 Chronicles 27:25-31 And over the king's treasures was Azmaveth the son of Adiel: and over the storehouses in the fields, in the cities, and in the villages… In these verses some of David's wealth is enumerated, especially that portion which consisted in estates, herds, and flocks. Accepting life on the earth as the sphere of our "probation," or "moral training," we need to see that all things which bear their influence upon us may be, and indeed are, used by God as agencies in this gracious work over which he presides. Riches, therefore, may be a Divine trust committed to some men with a distinct view to their culture through this trust; and it is precise]y this view of riches which needs to be more generally taught and apprehended, so that it may become a most solemn thing for any man to have this trust, and all who have it may be much more impressed with the responsibility of it than with the advantage and privilege of it. We easily take up with two imperfect notions. 1. We say that riches are tokens of Divine favour. But this may not be assumed as a universal fact. Riches may be a token of Divine wrath and judgment, and the very agency of a man's punishment. And riches may be a sign of God's anxiety about our moral state, and the need for subjecting us to some severe moral testing. To some natures no more searching test could be found than the trust of prosperity and wealth. 2. Or we say that riches are the rewards of virtue, and assume that men must be acceptable to God because they are rich, and that others must be out of acceptance, seeing that they are poor. But then we must face the difficulty which the Psalmist Asaph felt so bitterly (Psalm 73.) - the wicked are often the rich, and the righteous are among the down-trodden poor. It is evident that no general rule will fit all cases, and that, in wise Divine orderings, wealth and poverty are arranged for the highest good of the individual and the permanent good of the whole. Did we know all, we should never envy those to whom God entrusts the riches. Neither of these conceptions is sufficiently true to be accepted without due consideration of certain other and important representations, such as (1) that riches may be Divine judgments; (2) that riches may be Divine trials; (3) that riches always are Divine trusts, of which due account will presently be required. Then attention needs to be directed to three things in relation to our riches: (1) The wise care of them, as not ours, but God's; (2) the faithful use of them, as not given to us for our sake, but for the sake of others, whom we may bless by means of them; and (3) the watchful culture of the soul's life while in the enjoyment of them, seeing that the precise peril of them is that they tend to nourish a self-confidence which is fatally injurious to the soul's health and life. Illustrate from the parable of the farmer who was getting over-rich, and had no storehouses large enough for his harvests, but who was not rich toward God. And see the counsels given to the rich by the Apostle James. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: And over the king's treasures was Azmaveth the son of Adiel: and over the storehouses in the fields, in the cities, and in the villages, and in the castles, was Jehonathan the son of Uzziah: |
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