True Friendships Are Not Affected By Poverty – (Proverbs 19:4,7)
Daily Proverbs
Daily Bible Study
As we read this passage of scripture we need to be careful and we need to remember that in the book of Proverbs, God will give us spiritual wisdom as well as practical advice for everyday life, and these passages are no exception. These passages are not condoning the behavior described in its verses. And unless we get confused by our own sin-nature, God is not speaking against being poor. On the contrary, these passages point out a fact of life in this fallen world. Which is more often than not friends and family will abandon those who are poor in an effort to avoid helping. In addition, and this is very important to understand, God does not promise us wealth or prosperity! On the contrary, Jesus warns that those who follow Him will have tribulation, trials and suffering. In addition, the Bible also gives us many examples where wealth or prosperity were not signs of righteousness, but signs of rebellion against God. Why is this important?
Because in our world today, many believe that being a good Christian means we will be wealthy and have material abundance and that is simply not Biblically true. What God is telling us here in these passages, is that given the fallen nature of this world and the reality of everyday life, many of our friendships are superficial friendships, therefore, we need to choose our friends wisely. In other words, given our sin-nature and the state of our world, the reality is, most friendships are not true and deep friendships. Rather, they are superficial friendships. Many times they are based on a mutual shared experience and not true character. Furthermore, God is teaching us to understand that poverty often brings out the true colors of any friendship. Therefore, we are to choose our friends wisely. And as followers of Jesus, we are to take our friendships seriously, using all honesty and goodwill. If we were to put the message of this passage another way it would be, "choose your friends wisely, those who are friends based on what you can offer them will abandon you when poverty and trial strikes your life."