Your Season Called Success: Manna vs. Money
Proverbs 10:4 – He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand
of the diligent maketh rich.
Many of us know the story of how God fed the children of Israel in the desert
by giving them manna. Well, one interesting discovery I have made is that some
Christians attempt to apply this story to their financial portfolios. Let me
explain this a little better.
Where many Christians have been missing it is they have mistaken money for
manna. Let’s be real here for a moment. More than likely money is not
going to just start falling out of heaven. (Remember, I did say more than likely.)
It can happen, but the probability of it happening is slim. Therefore, if money
is not going to fall out of heaven physically, then it’s got to get to
you some way— through some “physical” conduit— and that way
is either through your hands or the hands of others —simply put, through
"work."
Surprisingly enough, some Christians believe that faith to "live"
from financial miracle to financial miracle is the way out, but God did not
intend for us to live this way. Sure, miracles may need to happen on occasion,
but our Father in Heaven has a better plan for us, and that plan includes HIM
blessing the "whatsoever WE do." In other words, receiving the blessing
is wrapped up tightly in the doing.
So for us to give tithes, offerings, and even first fruits and then refuse
to work the way God expects us to is not the way the system was designed to
work. You have to understand that your tithes, offerings, first fruits, etc.
set you up to receive the blessings that God has already created for you.
Our text says this: "He becometh poor that dealth with a slack hand: but
the hand of the diligent maketh rich." Here we see that prosperity and
poverty are both results of the level of work. The diligent hands bring prosperity,
and the slack hands bring poverty. Now, I’m not going to try to bring
anyone down who is going through a tough financial time. If you’re going
through that (like we all have), then there are two things that can help to
bring you out: (1) diligent giving to God and (2) diligent hands.
Again, many of us have faced financial hardships. However, today we want you
to understand that you don’t have to live with them forever. They should
be temporary. Through diligent giving and labor, you can and will leave that
season and enter your season called success.