“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.”
– Proverbs 3:9
Oh, what an important verse. What an important word for me, for those who like me live in one of the wealthiest places in the world. I know that not everybody who listens to this podcast is necessarily in the United States of America. And obviously, those who live in the United States, we have varying levels of wealth.
But just the fact that we have clean water, and food today, and health, medical care, that we, if we get an infection, will likely not die, if we get a simple infection, we can go to a store and get medicine for that, the fact that we have clothes, shelter, transportation, education, some of the things that we almost take for granted, that many people in the world do not have. See all of this as wealth, that God, by His grace, by his generosity, has given to many of us.
This Verse Thanks God for His Gifts
With all that God has given you—regardless of what or how much—see it as a gift from Him and belonging to Him to be used for His honor and glory.
And Proverbs 3:9 says honor the Lord with it. Honor the Lord with what you eat, what you wear. Honor the Lord with the shelter you have over your head, with the care you have available to you. And then with the resources God has entrusted to you, education, transportation, whatever it is, use it for the honor of God. Use money, use gifts, use resources that God has entrusted to you to honor him. And really, this does apply to all of us regardless of where we live, especially when you think about the picture in the last half of this verse, with the firstfruits of all your produce. Basically, the mentality here in Proverbs 3:9 is with all that God has given you, no matter how little or how much that is, see it as a gift from him, and see it as belonging to him.
Proverbs 3:9 Reminds Us that All our Gifts Belong to God
You are stewards of the wealth, whatever level it is, the wealth God has entrusted to you. And so, how can you, from the very beginning, the firstfruits, as you think about what God has given to you … This is why we see all throughout the Old Testament in particular, like firstfruit offerings. So from the top, off the top, give to God, and remind yourself, this belongs God. All of it belongs to God. All of it comes from God. And so we give the firstfruits as a reminder of that. And so, oh, doesn’t it change your life, my life, when we see our possessions, our wealth, as ultimately belonging to God, to be used for God, for his glory as an offering to him?
So God, we pray, especially amidst materialism in the world, and amidst unprecedented wealth you’ve given to many of us. God, I pray for my own life. Please help me. I pray for every person who’s listening to this right now. Please help us to honor you with our wealth. God, please help us to honor you with our wealth. Please give us wisdom from your word and by your spirit to know how best to glorify you with all you’ve given to us. Lord, please help us not to waste our wealth. Please help us to use our wealth to bring honor and glory to your name in the world around us.
Proverbs 3:9 Prays for Faithful, Generous Hearts
God, I don’t presume to know what this looks like for every single person who’s listening right now. God, I struggle to know what this looks like, needs to look like in my life. Please help me. God, please help those who are listening right now. Please help us to be vigilant, courageous, wise, and faithful. God, we want to be faithful stewards of the wealth you’ve given us. We want to see it as coming from you and to be used for you. So help us. Give us your perspective of our wealth, not the world’s perspective of wealth. God, please use our wealth for your purposes, not the purposes of this world, we pray. Help us to honor you with our wealth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
