Our Favorite Proverbs: Proverbs 11:4

by David Chadwick

"Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.”

Proverbs 11:4

When God pours out his wrath, and that day will surely come, your wealth will mean nothing. When it comes to eternal salvation, the amount of money you have accumulated will not impress God at all. When you die and face the One who owns all the world and everything in it, he is not going to say, “Wow, your wealth is really impressive!”

I have often asked people this question, “Have you ever seen a hearse with a U-Haul attached to it?” Of course, the answer is a resounding, “No!”

In fact, Rockefeller’s financial overseer was purportedly asked, after Rockefeller died, how much he left behind. Candidly, the financial overseer supposedly responded, “He left it all.”

King Solomon himself was a man of riches. He excelled not just himself but also “all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom” (1 Kings 10:23). As someone who experienced great wealth Solomon still knew this truth: “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death” (Proverbs 11:4).

Don’t miss the very important second part of this proverb: On the day of God’s wrath, it is righteousness, not riches, that delivers us from death.

God’s righteousness is found solely in Jesus. Accepting him gives us forgiveness so that when God looks at our souls, he sees the righteousness of God in Jesus. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

One day, God’s wrath will come. In that moment, there will only be two options: Either you have Jesus’s righteousness or you don’t. Please, my dear friends, make sure you are covered in the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10), as it truly is life’s most precious possession!