Proverbs 11.27
“Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.”
Achieving good things is a lifelong pursuit. Good things don’t just happen automatically; they are created because the people of God diligently seek what is good. They relentlessly pursue what is good and they fight for it.
There are people in the world who seek what is good, and there are people in the world who seek what is evil. That is the reality, and that is the battle we are fighting. There are many people and institutions today who are pursuing evil, therefore we must never tire of the battle. Not in our personal lives, not in our communities, and not in our world.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Cor 10.3-5)
Solomon warns readers that people will find whatever they search for. If you search for good things, you will find them. If you search for bad things, you will find them, as well. It’s your choice.
Proverbs 11.28
“Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.”
Wealth is not the problem, unless it becomes a substitute for God. When people do not trust in God, but instead trust in their position, power, or wealth … they have fallen into idolatry. To use a contemporary meme, that is an “epic fail.”
Proverbs recognizes the value of wealth and the fact that it often can be a blessing of God (see Proverbs 3:9-10). The issue is one’s attitude toward wealth. Trust is something that should only be placed in God; wealth is a poor substitute.
It is your relationship with Jesus that produces true righteousness, and thus your relationship with Jesus that produces true prosperity. The metaphor of the righteous blossoming like a plant brings to mind the description of the righteous person in Psalm 1 …
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season,and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
Righteousness is a gift of grace that we receive from God through faith in Christ. Having received the gift of righteousness, it is then something that we cultivate and pursue (also by faith) throughout our lifetime.
Remember that the Hebrew word for righteousness is tsedek, which means “rightness.” It has moral component, a relational component, and an operational component. We must relentlessly pursue what is right in all three areas.
Trust God, do the work, and relentlessly pursue what is good.
