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A PEOPLE OF UNDERSTANDING Part 3 of 4 UNDERSTANDING COVETOUSNESS (Amplified Bible--unless otherwise specified) Just as children are to hear, understand and then obey the instructions and warnings of their parents, so are God's children to hear, comprehend and then heed His Word. Jesus Himself referred to the subject of covetousness with cautionary warnings of implicit danger: "Take heed and beware of covetousness (all covetousness), for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" {Luke 12:15 NKJ}. "And He said to them, 'Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness--the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more; for a man's life does not consist and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance, or that which is over and above his needs'" {Luke 12:15}. To covet is to have an intense desire for that which will satisfy--at least temporarily--the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh or the pride of life. Seeing what others have, or even looking back to what we once had, whether possessions, power or position, stirs the carnal appetite with a hunger to have, to gain or to possess that which is not God's present will for our life. Covetousness fuels discontent within ourselves, with others and toward God. Aborting the Christ-like qualities of contentment and compassion, covetousness gives birth, instead, to pride, arrogance, contempt and a reliance on false securities. Living in the midst of affluence, we are, by the world's standards, rich indeed, and must, therefore, apply to our own lives Paul's admonition: "As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud and arrogant and contemptuous of others, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God...[Charge them] to do good works, to be liberal and generous-hearted, ready to share [with others], In this way laying up for themselves [the riches that endure forever] a good foundation for the future, so that they may gasp that which is life indeed" {I Tim 6:17-19}. God promises His Presence with us as the alternative to covetousness: "Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you or forsake you'" {Heb 13:5 NKJ}. In this text, covetousness is defined as the "love of money--[including] greed, avarice, lust and craving for earthly possessions" {Heb 13:5a}. I Samuel--Chapter 15 One of God's explicit commands to King Saul was to "go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and sucking, ox and sheep, camel and donkey" {v 3}. Had Saul understood that this disobedience would cost him his kingdom, perhaps he would have been less prone to short-change the obedience which he offered to God. Contrary to the Lord's directive, "Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; but all that was undesirable or worthless they destroyed utterly" {v 9}. Even before Saul's attempt to excuse his own disobedience by blaming the people, the Lord regretted making him king, "For he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commands" {v 11}. How ironic that at that moment Saul was setting up "for himself a monument or trophy [of his victory]" {v 12} and was further preparing to proclaim to the prophet that "I have performed what the Lord ordered" {v 13}. "And Samuel said, 'What then means this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?'" {v 14}. Were the sounds not evidence that Saul had indeed sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord? And for what? I Kings--Chapter 21 The life of Ahab also demonstrates just how costly covetousness can be. Having been reprimanded by a prophet of God for making a covenant with the enemy rather than destroying him, Ahab was "resentful and sullen" {I Kings 20:43}. He responded not by confession and repentance, but rather by focusing his attention on gaining more possessions, in this case, a vineyard which belonged to his neighbor, Naboth the Jezreelite. Obedient to God's Word, Naboth refused to sell or barter the inheritance of his fathers {v 3}, thereby increasing Ahab's already self-consumed emotional and mental state. Ahab retired to his bed and refused to eat {v 4}. Although Jezebel, his wife, asked the question, "Do you not govern Israel?" {v 7}, it was she who saw to it that Naboth was unjustly accused of cursing and renouncing God and the king and was then stoned to death {v 13}--all because Ahab had pouted about not getting something he wanted. But just as Ahab was standing in the vineyard which he thought he now possessed, God sent Elijah the prophet with a word of judgment about Ahab's having taken that which God still considered to be another's. God told Elijah just where Ahab was: "He is in the vineyard of Naboth, which he has gone to possess" {v 18b}. There, in the place of his desired possession, Ahab received, instead, the sentence of the Lord because he had sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord {v 20b}. "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your blood, even yours" {v 19b}. Upon Ahab's death, his body "...was brought to Samaria...And they washed his chariot by the pool of Samaria, where the harlots bathed, and the dogs licked up his blood as the Lord had predicted" {I Kings 22:37-38}. Of what gain to him, then, were the "ivory palace and all the cities he built" {I Kings 22:39}? "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life [in the eternal kingdom of God]?" {Mark 8:36} -Ruth French October Newsletter 1998 | Flesh & Holiness | Corrective Lenses | Pastor's Journal October 1997 Prophecy by Rev. Earl Roundtree | The Need for Virtues | A People of Understanding part 3 of 4 Revised: May 11, 2010. |
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