No Trouble

DEVOTION
PROVERBS
NO TROUBLE
Prov 11:29
29 He who brings trouble on his family will inherit only wind,
and the fool will be servant to the wise.
NIV
In the continuing saga of those who put their trust in money this warns of bringing trouble on the family. I think that if I had an extreme earnestness in the pursuit of the world and it’s ways, my mind would be filled with anxiety about my business and I would fret about how much money I was making or perhaps losing because of some deal gone bad, a customer refusing to pay the full amount, or some other loss. If I would have been so intense over money in my business, I think I would have been a mean and strict employer and I would have had no time for my family, being consumed with my work. This would have brought some quality of trouble within my family. There is one other thought here regarding bringing trouble to my household as well. I think if I were the kind of person who supported factions and feuds within the extended family, that is talking badly about one member to another, creating doubt and division among the family it would certainly be bringing trouble to the family. Either or both of those behaviors would bring me nothing but wind which I think signifies just worthless emptiness or the wind of a storm that damages everything in its path. But on the other hand if I were to function in the world with absolutely no concern for proper behavior in the affairs of money, I would be as the fool who would be indebted to those with the fortune. I would have to rely on them for all I have, and not be a free man at all able to determine my own life’s direction. It is true I am not debt free, but I am also not a servant to those I owe. In today’s culture it is nearly impossible to live a cash only lifestyle, homes, cars, and other expenses are a form of debt which are inherit to most. I think this speaks to being an indentured servant, forced into laboring for another’s profit due to that personal indebtedness which cannot be repaid. I do not think I live in either of these manners and thus have no concern about inheriting the wind, for I know in my heart I serve my God, who I am eternally in debt to which I cannot ever repay, but that indebtedness brings no trouble, it brings eternal life.