The Flowering of the Righteous

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

The Flowering of the Righteous

Proverbs 11:28; ESV

²⁸Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,
but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

I Timothy 6:10

¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Proverbs 11:28 is a good illustration of the use of an antonym. The first line is a contrast to the second. The “but” beginning the second line is there as a strong adversative.

The determining factor is the person in the contrast is “righteous.” This leaves the reader with this understanding.

A. The one who “trusts in his riches” is not righteous.

B. The one who is not “righteous” will fall.

C. The “righteous” does not trust in riches.

D. the “righteous´will not fall for this cause ie. trusting in riches.

There are other interesting features found here. This does not tell us that having riches necessarily presents a danger. It is when they are a personal source of confidence that are certain to bring a destructive consequence.

But this verse is in a certain context. It follows Vss 4, 5, 18, 24, 25, 26, and for us I Timothy 6:10. It is always and certainly a Scriptural conclusion that trust in and love of money guarantees all kinds of evil.

Abraham, a rich man, never trusted in his riches. We know him to be a righteous man not because he didn’t trust in his riches, but because he did trust in God. This left him no place to love his wealth or to trust in it.

What is it to “flourish like a green leaf”? In Vs 4 it is to be “delivered from death”. In Vs 18 it is to have “a sure reward.” It is to have what Paul in I Timothy 6:6 commends as the gain there is in godliness with contentment. And it is to escape all the by-paths of sin with its certain fall in 6:9-10.

What is the conclusion? The believer is not defined by wealth or the lack of it, but by his faith in the gospel and the character which results from it.