Where The Trap is Hidden

Text: Provers 1:10-19

The first mention of money in Solomon's book of Proverbs is in the context of a warning: do not throw your lot in with thieves.  Solomon always stresses that that ill-gotten gain is harmful to everyone concerned.  As a believer in God he surely would stress that thievery, graft, fraud, and extortion are abominable to God.  As a king and ruler, he would understand how such vices are a detriment to society and a threat to any kingdom just as an invading army. As a wise man, he counsels that such mammon takes away life from the very one that took it from someone else. 

It is in this context that Solomon gives us this early bit of wisdom:
 "Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird." (Proverbs 1:17)
If you know where the traps are, you can avoid them, and the trap in this case is gain gotten by cheating someone else. 

There are countless ways to accumulate honest wealth, but the first thing that a person of wealth must understand is that virtue is more valuable than any amount of wealth.  Wealth honestly acquired and managed will be a blessing to all; but here is where the trap is: "So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. (1:19)

Before you set a course for riches, you need to decide what kind of person you are going to be.  Those who love you and have your best interest at heart hope that you will choose virtue over wealth.

God bless,
Brad