Ben sat glued to the television screen. The offer sounded too good to be true.
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Before him were four men, smartly dressed in expensive looking suits. Three of them had introduced themselves as pastors from America and the fourth as a pastor from Australia, each one overseeing churches with names like, ‘New Life Christian Center’ or ‘Victorious Christian Fellowship’. So far all seemed good.
The leader of the group had begun to explain that in front of them was a pile of letters that these pastors had received from people with various different problems. The screen then cut to a different angle so that the huge mountain of letters that was indeed before them came into view.
The leader then proceeded to open his Bible and read some verses from the book of Isaiah. Ben hadn’t quite caught the reference for where the pastor was reading, but in any case it didn’t matter too much because the pastor then launched into the thrust of his message which was that God has two anointments for his children; one of financial blessing and the other of physical healing. Ben was slightly taken aback. He had never thought of things this way before.
The pastor continued his message, expounding the idea that God would protect his children from financial crises and that he would offer healing to those who were faithful to him. Sounded good on first hearing, especially as the pastor had been backing it up with Bible verses. The conclusion then came as the main pastor said that he and the other pastors would now pray for God’s anointing over all those who had sent letters.
All four pastors raised their hands and began to pray for anointings for all those who had written letters. After a quick prayer, the shot cut back to the lead pastor who now announced, ‘…and as a special offer for you, we have a study Bible for sale that includes our guide on God’s financial and health plan for your life. It can be yours for just £50. Ring the following number right now to order!’ An image of said Bible appeared on the screen with the appropriate telephone number. After a fair few seconds (so that viewers had adequate time to get the phone number written down, presumed Ben) the screen cut away to the end credits and the pastors were gone, leaving Ben to reflect on God’s plan of health and wealth and whether a £50 Bible was what he needed to get his life in order.
Most people desire to be healthy and wealthy. These are two basic aspects of life, without which we suffer. Thus, the offer of a God who offers both in abundance to those who follow him is tantalising.
However, if we read the Bible, whether a £50 one or a free one that we have been given at an evangelistic meeting, we discover that God’s plan is not quite that simple. A good example is King Solomon.
Solomon was King David’s son with Bathsheba. He gets off to a good start in life, being born into a royal family and eventually inheriting the throne from his father, although he has to be involved in some unsavoury moments in order to establish his throne. We then see him having a very prosperous reign as king. He builds the Jewish temple, a significant architectural work, where God was to be worshipped for the next few hundred years.
Beyond this, we see him also building a royal palace (1 Kings 9:10), becoming so famous that a distant queen comes to visit him (1 Kings 10:1), accruing so much gold that silver has no value in his kingdom (1 Kings 10:21), not to mention many other things such as robes, weapons, spices, chariots and horses (1 Kings 10:25,26). On top of all this, he has many wives and concubines (1 Kings 11:3).
Alongside, this great wealth, we can speculate that his health must have been pretty good for him to have been able to do everything he did. Thus, we see someone who was blessed from a health and wealth point of view far beyond most of us today. However, this is not just God’s benevolence towards a person who does all the right things, but rather God ‘s reward for Solomon having a right heart.
We see in 1 Kings chapter 3 Solomon having a genie in bottle moment. God appears to him in a dream and offers him whatever he wants. However, instead of asking for the obvious health and wealth, he asks for something that you don’t often hear about in genie jokes.
In verse 9 he requests a discerning heart so that he judge the people he is governing fairly. As a result, God promises to make him the wisest man who ever lived (verse 12), not to mention to give him these other good things that he didn’t actually even ask for (verse 13).
Thus, we see an example of God blessing someone with health and wealth, but only as a consequence of him seeking what is right. There is also a condition attached. In verse 14 the word if appears, warning Solomon that he needs to obey God’s decrees and commands in order to fully benefit from what is promised. Herein is the catch, which we also see clearly presented in Deuteronomy 28; God’s blessings were for those who obey Him.
In other words, in Old Testament times God did promise health and wealth to His people, but with the condition that they carefully followed His commands. If they didn’t, curses were promised. Solomon for all his greatness, fell foul of this condition.
Returning to the issue of Solomon’s many wives, while for many men the thought of many wives might inspire dread, Solomon seems to have married many women from the surrounding nations for political reasons (1 Kings 11:1,3). This was against God’s commands, which specified that His people the Israelites shouldn’t marry foreign women because they would lead them into idolatry. (1 Kings 11:2). This very thing is what happened to Solomon (1 Kings 11:5-8). We see that the consequence of this is that God decided to take the kingdom away from Solomon, although even here we see God’s grace as He decided to fulfil this judgement only in the time of Solomon’s son.
This idea of grace carries over into the New Testament. Time and time again the great men of the Old Testament fail one way or another, and it is only in Jesus do we see the perfect God-man who didn’t do any wrong and thus was able to become our model saviour. Like Solomon, who in the first place sought what was right and only after that did he receive other blessings, we are also called ‘to seek first’ the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then to trust in him for the other things we need (Matthew 6:33).
Unfortunately, there are many who want to put the emphasis on God’s material and physical blessings, bypassing the more tricky issues of sin, repentance and trusting Him. There are constant warnings of this in the New testament such as Titus 1:10,11 where the apostle Paul warns Titus about those who are full of meaningless and deceptive talk, teaching what they shouldn’t for financial gain.
However, true Christianity is not about what we can get out of God, but rather a loving relationship with Him, which we can enjoy whether in need or plenty.