The Danger of Prosperity

The Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah, delivered a series of warnings from God to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem to turn from their sin and to keep the covenant they had with God from the time of their exodus out of Egypt. Jeremiah gave some of these messages to the kings in Judah throughout the time of his ministry. One such king was Jehoiachin.

Jehoiachin was the son of King Jehoiakim, a wicked king who lived lavishly and built extravagant dwellings at the expense of the people. God knew of his wickedness, and warned him through Jeremiah. “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; that saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled [paneled] with cedar, and painted with vermilion” (Jeremiah 22:13-14). Jehoiachin grew up with this indulgence which he learned under his father’s reign.

When his father died, Jehoiachin became king. The warnings of God through Jeremiah now came to him, but to no avail. Jeremiah records “I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice” (Jeremiah 22:21). It is evident that Jehoiachin’ s indulgent lifestyle made it difficult, if not impossible, for him to give heed to God’s admonition. In fact, his pampered youth promoted an outright rebellion to the message of God which ultimately resulted in God’s judgement. He was carried away captive to Babylon after a reign of only three months. There he spent the rest of his life.

There is a danger to be avoided in prosperity. When we are comfortable, we forget God and wrongly ascribe the blessings we enjoy as arising from ourselves. The Psalmist made this mistake and recorded his lesson learned. “In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. LORD, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled” (Psalm 30:6). What we have and our ability to enjoy it is by God’s good favor.

Furthermore, when we are comfortable with our circumstances, we inevitably desire greater comfort. This pursuit breeds self-indulgence that leads to greater sins. Ezekiel declares that such self-indulgence was at the very heart of Sodom and led to its destruction. “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49). Self-indulgence leaves no room for the worship of God or ministering to others’ needs. Hosea warned “whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart” (Hosea 4:11). Unbridled self-indulgence robs one of understanding and the ability to respond to truth.

Our society promotes the pursuit of lifestyles that hinge on increasing comfort and unimpeded self-indulgence. It would seem that material wealth and personal comfort are the goals we should all be striving to achieve. But Jesus said “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth” (Luke 12:15). What is your comfort level? Can you hear what God the Lord says?

Randy Livingston serves as a chaplain for a local police department. He writes devotionals for his ministry which also appear at his blog, From the Chaplain. We republish this post by permission.

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