In part 3(Click here to read it), I shared how the desire for financial security competed for my attention and focus, which was meant for God and my loved ones. It's not that the desire for financial security was wrong, but it is to be achieved through trusting God to meet our needs and direct us.

1. "Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met." (Matthew 6:33 MSG)

In this installment I would like to share why this competition exist between wealth and God. The reason lies in the very beginning. When God made Adam and Eve, He made full provision for them; God was their source and met every need. That is the joy of a father; to look after His children.

1. "God said, "Now we will make humans, and they will be like us. We will let them rule the fish, the birds, and all other living creatures." So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women. God gave them his blessing and said: Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth. I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. And I have given the green plants as food for everything else that breathes. These will be food for animals, both wild and tame, and for birds. God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good! Evening came and then morning--that was the sixth day." (Genesis 1:26-31 CEV)

2. "All the wild animals now drink their fill, wild donkeys quench their thirst. Along the riverbanks the birds build nests, ravens make their voices heard. You water the mountains from your heavenly cisterns; earth is supplied with plenty of water. You make grass grow for the livestock, hay for the animals that plow the ground. Oh yes, God brings grain from the land, wine to make people happy, Their faces glowing with health, a people well-fed and hearty." (Psalms 104:11-15 MSG)

3. "He gives food to all who live. God's love never fails." (Psalms 136:25 CEV)

4. "And He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father, who is in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, as in Heaven, so also on the earth. Give us day by day our daily bread," (Luke 11:2-3 MKJV)

It was never God's plan that we would worry about our upkeep; He just wants us to trust Him. When the devil came to preach independence to Adam and Eve, he introduced them to a contrary concept.

1. "The snake replied, "That's not true; you will not die. God said that because he knows that when you eat it, you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad." The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it. As soon as they had eaten it, they were given understanding and realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and covered themselves." (Genesis 3:4-7 GNB)

The devil convinced them to seek a destiny independent from God where they would be responsible for themselves and not have to rely on God for their needs. He prompted them to esteem their needs above God's will and this is what led to their descent into sin and death. Self-effort, hard labor and pain were born.

1. "And he said to the woman, "I will increase your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth. In spite of this, you will still have desire for your husband, yet you will be subject to him." And he said to the man, "You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you. It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants. You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again." (Genesis 3:16-19 GNB)

By obeying the devil over God, Adam and Eve became the devil's bond servants and he through them created his own world order, where material riches is used as a substitute for relationship with God. Just like those before me, I began to believe that I could be fulfilled, if I could just amass enough wealth to secure my future and therefore, would not need God so much. I began to trust in uncertain riches.

1. "Surely you know that when you surrender yourselves as slaves to obey someone, you are in fact the slaves of the master you obey---either of sin, which results in death, or of obedience, which results in being put right with God." (Romans 6:16 GNB)

2. "In the past you were dead because you sinned and fought against God. You followed the ways of this world and obeyed the devil. He rules the world, and his spirit has power over everyone who doesn't obey God. Once we were also ruled by the selfish desires of our bodies and minds. We had made God angry, and we were going to be punished like everyone else." (Ephesians 2:1-3 CEV)

3. "And He said to them, Watch and keep yourselves from covetousness. For a man's life is not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. And He spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room in which to store my fruits? And he said, I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and I will store all my fruits and my goods there. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat drink and be merry. But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul shall be required of you, then whose shall be those things which you have prepared? So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:15-21 MKJV)

Earthly riches

They help create that castle in the sky

The delusion of grandeur

Extends the life of independence

Fills me with false hope

I can't take it with me

It leaves me to face my eternal fate

Having shunned the true riches of His grace

Getting to the point of misplaced trust in riches was a gradual affair that happened over time and was not overtly obvious until much later on. In part 5, I will share the futility and deception behind what the devil had to offer.

Selah

(To be continued...)

Click here to read part 5

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