“I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” Nehemiah 5:7
Did you know that God’s Word talks about money more than Heaven? Did you know that God’s Word talks more about money than salvation? Why do you suppose God gives so much of His precious page time to cash? Well, I think it is well summed up in an often misquoted verse from 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” But for the sake of context, let’s finish the verse, “for some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” God speaks so much on money because He fully understands the universal appeal it has to cause us to wander from Him. Admit it, the pull of money and what it can buy, at times, seems to speak much louder to us than God does. As we arrive at Nehemiah chapter 5, we see not more opposition to God’s work from outsiders, but from insiders, from fellow Israelites. Jews were taking advantage of other Jews. As the people were rallying around Nehemiah and fulfilling God’s call to rebuild the wall, their other jobs were being neglected. Their fields were not being tended and their crops were not being properly harvested. As a result, wealthy, powerful bank men came calling. These wealthy Jews foreclosed on their property and then started loaning money to the now poor wall-builders at extravagant interest rates. But as Nehemiah gets wind of it, He calls out the guilty right in front of God and demands they right their wrongs. You see, there is nothing wrong with collecting interest, but God’s Word didn’t allow it within the brethren of the Israelite nation. (Deuteronomy 23:19-20) But these men, in the pursuit of the almighty dollar, had placed it above Almighty God and His Law. Today where does making, accumulating, and spending money fit in with your walk with God? Has money reached such a crescendo in your life that it has pushed God out of the top spot in your heart? It sounds inconceivable, but money is oh so sly to creep into our lives and push God out of the way. Paul saw this potential evil, and He carefully pointed it out in his letter to the young pastor, Timothy. He had seen people within the church allow the dollar to get ahead of God. And as a result, Paul had seen their faith and their walk with God wander down money-fueled rabbit trails. And that greater distance from God allowed the world to do what it does, pierce individuals with the grief of sin that comes with loving money more than God. Today, have a financial meeting within your own heart. Sit down and do a bookkeeping of where your love truly lies. And if you find that your love of money is ahead of God, fix it. For the root of all evil lies not in money itself, but in your love of it. A love that will lead you away from God and down a dark path of sin and grief. The love of the Lord though, produces goodness, freedom, peace, joy, and harmony. The choice of where your love lies is yours, choose wisely.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21
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