Year of Realization - Day 22: Money is a tool often used to bring compliance.

“If it please the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks of silver to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury.””

‭‭Esther‬ ‭3‬:‭9‬ ‭NLT

I saw this week that the trial is beginning of a man accused of killing his wife and 22 year old son. The prosecution asserts that he did this to distract attention away from his financial ruin. You see, he was involved in major money schemes through which he enriched himself while swindling others. However, the walls were closing in on him as his corruption was being exposed. So, it appears that he chose to take the lives of his wife and son (making it look like something that was perpetrated against them by someone else) to garner sympathy for himself while distracting from the mounting evidence against him.

Now, how did he end up in such a place that he became willing to perpetrate such a heinous act?

Of course, we know that evil is behind all these kinds of horrendous deeds. But in this case, the tool that drove this man to becoming a monster was his love of money.

Indeed, the apostle Paul addresses the slippery slope on which one finds oneself when having a great desire to be rich:

“But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We see that Paul asserts that the love of money will end in ruin; sadly, it does. He then goes on to give Timothy some very important advice regarding those who do have an abundance of money:

“Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.”

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Yes, I have seen money used for great good; but I have also seen it used for unthinkably evil purposes.

In our opening scripture we see that, as Haman is trying to convince the king to exterminate the Jews, he throws in the fact that he will put what amounted to over 300 tons of silver into the treasury. Notice: it was to be put into the hands of the government administrators who would then put it in the treasury. Now, there’s a very good chance that Haman knew that part of this money would be kept by the administrators. This money was basically meant to lessen the chance of an outcry being raised against Haman’s plot. Yes, it was payola.

The Lord wants us to have what we need. In fact, He has promised throughout His word that He will supply our needs. However, if we fail to trust the Lord to sustain us, we may be priming ourselves for the money trap, or put more succinctly, we must be on guard to not fall in the trap covered by money.

Make no mistake, there are countless numbers of souls who have already found themselves in the pit of destruction having blindly followed the hope of enrichment. Let’s not join them!

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

#yearofrealization