Warnings and knee-jerk reactions
Have you ever ignored a warning?
Maybe someone was trying to tell you about a potential pitfall, but for whatever reason, you didn’t hear them. How did that end up for you?
So far, David has given us several warnings in Psalm 62. He’s warned us about two-faced people that will lie to us:
Psalm 62:4
They only plan to bring him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in lying;
they bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly.
He’s warned us about the illusion of fame and status:
Psalm 62:9
Common people are only a vapor; important people, an illusion.
Together on a scale, they weigh less than a vapor.
Now, David gives us a two-for-one warning:
Psalm 62:10
Place no trust in oppression or false hope in robbery.
If wealth increases, don’t set your heart on it.
Don’t give in to the knee-jerk response: “Oppression? I don’t oppress anybody!”
The only way to oppress someone is to first have power or authority over them. Oppression happens when we misuse our authority in order to build ourselves up. Have you ever flexed your authority muscles, just because you can?
Don’t give in to the second knee-jerk response: “Robbery? I haven’t robbed anybody!”
To rob someone is to take what doesn’t belong to you. Maybe by your physical strength you took something, maybe you were cunning enough that they didn’t notice, or…have you ever taken credit for something that you didn’t do?
If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, then you are in danger of doing what David is warning against: trusting your identity to your authority or placing your hope in what you can acquire – instead of trusting God.
While we might be tempted to write these warnings off as “play nice and I’ll be fine”, but in the last part of verse 10, David indicates that any reliance on wealth for our security would be foolish:
If wealth increases, don’t set your heart on it.
Making money is not a bad thing, in fact God tells us to work and earn a living in many places throughout the Bible. However, in verse 10 David states that if wealth increases – and he doesn’t specify which type of riches, legitimate or otherwise – don’t set your heart on it.
Depending on the context, the Hebrew word for riches can indicate strength, capability, skill, valor, or wealth. We would do well not to base our security on any of these things, even if they increase during our lifetime.
Even in a time of blessing and increase, we need God to continue to be our only source of security. We can’t say that we haven’t been warned.
Keep Pressing,
Ken