THE DANGERS OF AFFLUENCE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks!’ The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness:”

“The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks .You will each go straight out through breaches in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,”
declares the Lord.

Amos 4:1-3

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Ask the average person if they would turn down having riches and most would think you were crazy for asking the question. The world today seems to define success by the job we have, what we own, and how much is in our bank accounts, a standard that drives people to grade their lives to see where they weigh out on the wealth scale and then pursue whatever is necessary to try and move up, even if it means doing something illegal or illicit to get there.

But what would happen if you did achieve prosperity? Would it change the way you look at the world around you and the people in it?  

You see, affluence can be a blessing but there are also dangers associated with it. Point in case, look at these words from the opening verses of Amos, Chapter 4 as God is addressing some of the rich in Old Testament Israel:

“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks!’ The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness:”

“The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks. You will each go straight out through breaches in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,” declares the Lord.  Amos 4:1-3

The target of the Lord’s words seems to be a group of women in Israel who have allowed their lavish lifestyles to go to their heads. Note that God refers to them as the “cows of Bashan”, a reference to the top breed of cattle in the land of Canaan, a breed that was given special attention and pampering because of their prominence above all other livestock of their kind. We can see God is comparing the women to the cattle by quoting their own words, “Bring us some drinks!”, a declaration that indicates they expected their husbands to respond to their demands, a declaration that points to the fact these women were spoiled and coddled.

Well this attitude of self-centeredness may have been bad enough to get them in trouble with God but as we can see, these women let their prosperous lifestyle lead them to do far worse than order their husbands to wait on them hand and foot. For as we read God’s words one more time, we find the women mistreated those who were less fortunate than they were:

“You women who oppress the poor and crush the needy.”

Perhaps the greatest hazard that comes with affluence is that a person can start to see themselves as above others. In the case of the Israelite women in Amos’ day, they would “oppress the poor” and “crush the needy”. They had all the means in the world, riches granted them by God Himself as a blessing, to make a difference in the lives of all those who were deprived and underprivileged but they didn’t. Instead of offering a hand to help someone up who was in dire need, they chose to kick the disadvantaged person while they were down and so the Lord was left with no other choice than to teach them a lesson and show them how it felt to be desperately in need of help.

What did He promise to do to these selfish, sinful women of Israel?

Through His own words, He promised the following judgment on them:

“The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks. You will each go straight out through breaches in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon.”

Since the women would not humble themselves from their lofty place of wealth, the Lord would bring them crashing down Himself. The Assyrians would come and when they did, Israel would be left in ruins and the people taken off into captivity. The women who were once so high and mighty would have no value to the Assyrians outside of being slaves that could be used for whatever means the captors chose. In other words, they would now be the poor who were oppressed, the needy being crushed.

How does the old saying go?

“What comes around, goes around.”

One more thing before I move from this scripture passage toward life application for us all. Note how gruesome the capture would be for the women and other Israelites who would be led away to a foreign land with them. Ancient Assyrian pictures found carved in stone depicted Israelites being led by ropes attached to hooks that pierced the person’s nose or lower lip. Think about how painful that would be and how it would leave you completely submissive and subservient to the person tending the rope. Ironically, the once demanding rich Israelite women would now be the poorest of poor, pulled at the nose or lip by the person leading them away.

Friends, there is a caution here for all us and we had better be paying attention. If God does bless us with affluence, it doesn’t make us better than anyone else. It just equips us to make a greater difference using what He has granted. And one thing I have discovered is that the more that I give freely to others, the more God has given me to continue to do it more and more.

That’s using your wealth in a way that honors God and others. That’s a lifestyle that models the self sacrificing and giving found in Jesus Christ, the One we are to mold our lives after as Christians. And that is what being a good steward of what God has given looks like.

Instead of gauging your financial stature off of what the world sees as successful, turn your attention to what God wants you to do with what He has provided. If you do, I promise you that He will lead you to a blessed experience that will be rich, not monetarily but spiritually, not through treasures on earth but rather by storing up more treasures in heaven.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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