The Blessing of the Lord (Proverbs 10:22; 11:11)

Speaking Words

"I Have Made You Rich"

Years ago, working for a courier service, I remember driving around this stretch of road by some grain elevators, and to me, it was almost audible, it was so dramatic; a voice said, "I have made you rich". At the time, as the saying goes, I didn't have enough money to "pay attention", let alone be considered 'rich'.

The Blessing of the Lord

At the same time, the Lord gave me the scripture [God will always give you scripture to back up what He is saying on the inside] in Proverbs 10:22, "The blessing of the Lord, it makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it". The word 'sorrow', in the Hebrew, has the idea of heavy, toilsome labor, even the labor of a woman giving birth, but specifically, it speaks of actual physical labor. The word is only used 7 times in the Old Testament [OT], and once it is used of the pain in childbirth (Gen.3:16), and 4 times it is used of the labor and toil of work, to produce an income (Ps.127:2; Prov.5:10; 10:22; 14:23). Quite literally, the scripture is saying that the blessing of the Lord produces wealth in your life, or makes you rich, and you don't have to work for it! That didn't make any sense to me, until later, when the Lord showed me, Proverbs 11:11.

Poetic Parallelism

Proverbs 11:11 says, "By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked". Proverbs, Psalms, and almost all of the prophets [Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.], as well as various parts of the OT, are written in poetic parallelism. What that means, is that the concepts, or ideas presented, in the first line of a verse are repeated in the second line, using parallel, or contrasting words. In this scripture, 'the upright' is parallel, and in opposition to 'the wicked'; 'exalted' to 'overthrown'; and 'blessing' to 'the mouth'.

The Blessing

Just like the 'mouth' or 'words' of the wicked, can cause the cities downfall, so the 'blessing' or 'words' of the righteous, can cause the city to be exalted. In the same way, the 'blessing' of the Lord, that makes rich, are the very 'words' that God speaks to you, about your financial situation. In my case, His words [blessing], were, "I have made you rich", and there is no work or labor you can do to earn that pronouncement.

Testimony

I was single at the time, barely getting by, and yet those words, spoken into me, exploded, like a spiritual bomb going off, and they continue to go off on the inside of me, to the point that I expect money to find me, to chase me down, like it is looking for me, because it belongs to me; it wants to, even needs to, get to me. That may sound arrogant, but it is not because of anything that we are, but because of who He is, and His 'blessing' on our lives. Later in life, my wife and I discovered the principle of first fruits [see Bible Word Studies on First Fruits]; built a business that directly employed half a dozen people, and indirectly, a dozen more. We became the #1 business in our area producing hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, making more in a month than I once made in a year, and getting bigger and better, and growing through financial downturns in the economy, which not only didn't hurt us, but we prospered despite the adversity.

You Too

God is no respecter of persons, and what He has done for us, He can and will do for you too, if you choose to listen to what He says, and receive His 'blessing' for your life.

You are God's Best and God's Best is Yours