Psalm 52:6-7

Psalm 52:6-7

Do not trust in wealth

In Psalm 49 we read about rich fools who are arrogant and boastful. Men and women who flaunt their wealth and their extravagant lifestyles and who boast of their accomplishments, their power and their possessions. These people think that they have everything and even if they do not, they have the means to get everything. Such foolishness believes that security, well-being and the future, are all protected by a healthy bank balance and an abundance of earthly possessions. 

Throughout David’s period of suffering, he bitterly rejected such worldly wisdom with statements like, “People despite their wealth, do not endure.” Psalm 49:12. “People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish.” Psalm 49:20. I believe that a similar sentiment is being expressed here; the boastful and arrogant who rely on their accumulated wealth and their accomplishments will, one day, fall from grace. Those who trample others and use them, those who exploit the poor and make themselves rich by violent or corrupt means, will eventually find themselves with nothing. Anyone who does not make God his stronghold, is on a hiding to nothing – literally.

Does this give us licence to laugh or scoff? Maybe we can, if we’ve suffered at the hands of a brutal dictator or an abusive family member or a corrupt fraudster. But take note, verse 6 also says that the righteous will see all of this and fear, because we all know that if the opportunity had come our way, we might have been arrogant and boastful and accumulated riches too! Let us always make the Lord our God our stronghold and if we have Him, we are the wealthiest people on earth. Hallelujah!

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