My dear readers,

Labour With Guaranteed Increase!

Proverbs 13:11: “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.”

The Promised Land was a land flowing with milk and honey. “Milk and honey” signifies a fertile land where animals may feed and produce plenty of milk. It is also a land where the honey bees may fly from flower to flower and make plenty of honey. God promised His faithful servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their descendants, the nation of Israel, would conquer, occupy and live in a very fertile land. When Israel obeyed the LORD, God would bless them with spiritual and physical blessings. Their women would not be barren. Their animals and crops would be abundantly fruitful. But, if they sinned against the LORD, God would curse them and their land. Famine and drought would afflict the land. Diseases and pestilence would afflict the people and the land. Oppressors would come and attack them, and many of them would die. God would even exile them if Israel would not repent and return to holiness as they lived and witnessed for the LORD in His Promised Land (cf. Lev 26 and Deut 28 for a detailed account of the blessings and curses).

Since God wrote the Book of Proverbs for Israel and not Gentile nations to live by, how would Israel get wealth by vanity?

God promised Israel that as a national witness, His spiritual blessings would be married with material blessings. This is not the case for the church or ecclesiastical witness, where the blessings are spiritual and not material. All Israel needed to do was to be an obedient and holy nation according to the Holy Scriptures, and the blessings from God would flow copiously. Israel completely ignored the LORD’s promise. Thus, God exiled her entirely in the days of the Babylonian captivity in 586 B.C. Israel made political, military, marriage and business covenants with her surrounding neighbours. Some of these kings were quite savvy in their business ventures and succeeded in bringing prosperity to Israel even though Israel lived in idolatry. Israel thought they were walking right in God's eyes because they were enjoying material wealth in their idolatry and debaucherous living. Israel thought like the Gentile nations who worshipped idols, lived carnal and sinful lives and were materially well off. The LORD chastised Israel and even sent many prophets to rebuke and warn Israel to return to the LORD, but it was to no avail, for there were more bad kings than good kings who ruled Israel till her exile. The wealth Israel obtained by vanity, i.e. in her disobedience to God's Word, was devastatingly diminished by the LORD when He sent the Babylonians to destroy all her cities, including Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon. Israel lost her witness and the Promised Land and everything they had built throughout the centuries by her sinful disobedience to the LORD.

However, on a personal level, an Israelite could also obtain wealth by vanity when he disobeyed God’s Word. The following are some ways of vanity:

• His motive is carnal – When the motive is not according to God’s acceptable motive, everything done would be rejected by Him. The only acceptable motive in God’s eyes is taught in Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “⁴Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: ⁵And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” God’s love has been shed abroad into every believer’s heart by the Holy Spirit when they became believers (cf. Rom 5:5). Therefore, every believer can have the motive of love in all they do. However, their work is vanity when they have another motive, such as love for family, jobs, country, self or the praises of man or any other man-centred motive. When he gets his wealth through any of these man-centred motives, God calls it vanity, and it will diminish.

• His method is unbiblical – When the love of God constrains him, his method must be according to the Holy Scriptures. If the way he gains his wealth is unbiblical, even though it may be legal, God will not accept it. God will also diminish it. The motive does not justify the wrong means.

God can diminish the Israelite’s wealth by pestilence, reducing crop yield, sending oppressors to rob and plunder, sickness or hardening the ground through drought. His wealth would also not bring any spiritual blessing to himself, his loved ones and his friends. Instead, they might stumble because God would soon expose his sinful means of obtaining wealth. Shame would follow.

But any God-fearing Israelite who worked hard according to honest biblical ways would receive an increase because God bound spiritual and material blessings together in the national witness. Their testimonies for Christ would bring blessings to many. God would be delighted to bless their diligence and hard work abundantly as He promised. When most of the families in Israel lived in obedience and holiness, the nation would shine brightly for the LORD. Spiritual blessings such as peace of mind and heart, experiencing the nearness of the LORD’s presence, and knowing that the LORD would hear when they prayed were invisible. But the physical blessings are visible as they manifested the LORD’s spiritual blessings to Israel. Such a holy witness was what the LORD wanted Israel to be, as revealed in the Law of Moses in the Pentateuch. The LORD God almighty guaranteed the success. All Israel needed to do was to labour according to the Holy Scriptures. Sadly, this was infrequent. Israel walked in carnality more than she walked in spirituality.

The “increase” that Proverbs 13:11b speaks of includes the physical whereby the farmer’s crops or fruits from fruit trees would increase. Their spiritual relationship with the LORD would also increase as they attributed their bumper harvest to the LORD’s goodness. They would learn to trust Him more as they experienced the reality of the LORD’s promises in their lives. The study of and obedience to God’s Word would spread from family to family. The glory of God would increase in Israel, and more souls would be brought into God’s kingdom. When these good deeds are done rightly according to the Holy Scriptures, God will remember them for eternity.

God created man to work before and after the fall. Before the fall, it was pleasant labour without the sweat of the brows. After the fall, it was hard labour without joy till man returned to the dust of the ground from which God created him. Hard work will tire out the sinful man so that he will sin less. Laziness is a sin. After salvation in Christ, man can labour with joy and be guaranteed an increase till he returns to heaven. He works hard as a godly witness for Christ. All believers' good works are to point others to the Saviour and glorify God, their heavenly Father.

Will you labour with guaranteed success?