Escaping wealth’s cold embrace
The rich and powerful do as they like to get what they want. Seeing this, we’re tempted to see money and power as the be-all and end-all. But idolizing anything apart from God is as foolish as it is false.
To the music director. A descendants of Korah psalm.
1 Listen to this, all you people!
Pay attention, everyone on earth
2 high and low, rich and poor!
3 For my words distill wisdom
and my thoughts run deep.
4 I’ve tuned my ear to the use of proverbs
explaining life’s riddles to the lilt of the lyre.
5 Why should I fear when I’m in trouble
hemmed in by oppressors
6 who rely on their riches
and brag about their wealth?
7 No one has any means of escaping death
paying God to exempt them.
8 The cost of ransom is far beyond our means—
so don’t even think of it!
9 The whole idea of living on forever
indefinitely dodging death, is preposterous.
10 Anyone can see that wise people die
the foolish and ignorant all pass away
and all of them leave their fortunes to others.
11 Even those who name countries after themselves
end up with a grave as their final residence
a cemetery their permanent address.
12 The prestige of mortals doesn’t last:
they die just like animals.
13 This is how fools end up
even the ones whose every word we hold onto.
14 They’re herded off to the grave like sheep
with the Grim Reaper as shepherd.
And in the morning—
as their bodies decompose in the grave
far from their big, beautiful mansions—
you’ll find the godly ruling in their place.
15 As for me, God will redeem my life
and take me in his arms.
16 So don’t be rattled by those who get rich
and build themselves massive homes.
17 For when they die
they take nothing with them
and leave all their prestige behind too.
18 Though they congratulate themselves in life
and everyone applauds their success
19 they’re laid out beside their ancestors
never to see the light of day again.
20 One thing the rich and famous don’t get
is that they die just like animals.
Most people view wealth as tangible proof that the rich have the inside track on life. And most rich people believe that lie themselves. So we hang on their words, honoring and deferring to them, as they think we should. And when they oppress the poor, we stand back. This terrifies the poor, who see the rich as invincible.
The psalmist seeks to correct our distortions about material wealth and what it can buy. Most of the rich don’t deserve the honor we give them. Many of them are so foolishly obsessed with themselves that they’re closed to correction and fail to see that death is the one reckoning they can’t buy their way out of. But their prestige has a short shelf-life, since their lives are just as tenuous as everyone else’s. In fact, as tenuous as the lives of animals.
The psalmist assures us that God will reverse the power differential, that the egotistical rich will be shoved permanently offstage, leaving the godly poor standing in their place. She’s confident God will bring her back from the brink of destruction while death strips the rich of their honor, laying their lifeless corpses out like animal carcasses.*
Prayer:
Help me see material wealth and all its prestige with clarity, as you see them, Lord. And when those with wealth and power oppress me, help me to rely on you. Keep me trusting in you, aware that my security lies nowhere else. Amen.
In your free moments today, meditate on these words:
As for me, God will redeem my life
and take me in his arms.
* I imagine the psalmist here as a woman of faith, like Miriam, Deborah, Hanna, or the Virgin Mary (see further, my answer to the question: Who wrote the psalms?).
