Imaginary Safety – Proverbs 18:11

In 1999 Beatle, George Harrison, was attacked in his home by a man wielding a knife.  His home sat on 34 acres and was known as Fort Knox to his neighbors because of the security there.  Harrison survived the attack, joking that the man’s intent was not to audition for the Traveling Wilburys, Harrison’s new band.  Harrison was always concerned about his security and was clearly shaken by this break-in.

A rich man’s wealth is his strong city,

and like a high wall in his imagination. (Proverbs 18:11, ESV)

Ben Stein, famous for his role as Ferris Beuller’s teacher in the movie “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off,” and more recently as an apologist, speaker, writer and political commentator, said in an article in The American Spectator: 

How much money do you have to have to be considered rich in today’s society? Some say about $1.3 million per family member. Others say about $5 million per family. Some individuals have told me you should have unearned income of about $500,000 per year to be considered rich. But I keep thinking of how many people I know with far more than that who do not seem happy. On the other hand, I know many people who have trouble paying their bills yet are really well-off. If you can share any problem with your wife, you’re rich. If you can face your parents and believe you have given back to them even a hint of what they gave you, you’re rich. If you can honestly say you have nothing to hide, you are really, really rich.

All of us are driven by a yearning for safety.  We don’t want to have to worry about being able to eat or get the things we want.  We think that wealth will protect us.  It is the equivalent, in our imaginations, of a high wall around our strong city.  Jesus makes a strong commentary on this mentality:

 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,  and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’  And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16–21, ESV)

Our only true safety is in Yahweh.  He is our high wall.