Read Ecclesiastes 5:8–20
Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves
wealth is never satisfied with his income.
Ecclesiastes 5:10
The late Joe Louis, world heavyweight boxing champion, used to say,
“I don’t like money, actually, but it quiets my nerves.” But Solomon
said that possessing wealth is no guarantee that our nerves will be
calm and our sleep sound. According to him, the common laborer
sleeps better than the rich man (v. 12). The Living Bible expresses
verse 12 perfectly: “The man who works hard sleeps well whether he
eats little or much, but the rich must worry and suffer insomnia.”
More than one preacher has mentioned John D. Rockefeller in
his sermons as an example of a man whose life was almost ruined by
wealth. At the age of fifty-three, Rockefeller was the world’s only billionaire, earning about a million dollars a week. But he was a sick man
who lived on crackers and milk and could not sleep because of worry.
When he started giving his money away, his health changed radically,
and he lived to celebrate his ninety-eighth birthday!
Yes, it is good to have the things that money can buy, provided we
don’t lose the things money can’t buy.
Something to Ponder
To what extent do you think that worrying about money is a source
of other problems in your life? In what ways?