At first reading, the Book of Proverbs can seem like just another "success and prosperity" book, giving 10 quick ways to get rich and win in the game of life. It is full of promises of blessings, and talks about money, riches, enduring wealth and prosperity, fame, honor, good health and a long life.

It even tells you that bribes work like a charm, calming angry people down (21:14) and making powerful contacts (18:16), and that if you have lots of money you will have no shortage of friends (19:4). Many worldly people read the Book of Proverbs and find it a great source of good ideas for running a successful business. I recently saw a totally secular "how to" book that quoted copiously from the Book of Proverbs.

But as Kingdom business professionals, we must read the Book of Proverbs with a different focus and priority—we must have the Kingdom of God as first place in our lives. It is all about what comes first in your life. You can read Proverbs and just look for the blessings, or you can read it more deeply and see God's hand at work in building righteousness and character into your life.

Jesus Himself tells us that if we give priority to God—if we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness—then ALL these things (money, health, long life, honor and material needs) will be given to us as well (Matthew 6:33). It is a matter of seeking the Blesser rather than the blessings. Prosperity is the outcome of, not the reason for seeking His face and being in His presence.

Godly Character Leads To Blessings

In fact, when you look more deeply into Proverbs, you see the pattern is always character leading to godly wisdom leading to the blessings as the outcome of a process. Character is based on knowing God, and being in His Presence, and each day becoming more and more like Jesus. It is based on understanding the reverential and holy fear of the Lord.

King Solomon talks no fewer than 16 times about the "fear of the Lord." It is the source of wisdom, understanding and knowledge, which in turn will lead on to the blessings that we so much like to focus on. But we must keep our reading of Proverbs in proper balance, so that we start with the foundation of character and wisdom and move on to wealth and prosperity, rather than the other way around. If we major on the blessings, it will not lead us back to integrity and holiness.

Prosperity and integrity are like two sides of a seesaw—keep them in balance, and everything works well, and you can have a lot of fun. Let them get out of balance, and you are in freefall, with no stability, and you most certainly won't be having much fun.

The unalterable godly pattern is fearing God, coming into His presence, gaining His wisdom, and then working it out into blessings and prosperity. Proverbs 3 is a favorite among business people, because it talks about wealth and riches. In fact, it starts out by emphasizing trusting, knowing (acknowledging) and FEARING the Lord, and honoring Him with our wealth. Then, as the result of these preconditions, we read that we will be blessed, healthy, and have long life, riches and honor (Prov. 3:5-9, 16).

The Fear Of The Lord

Another all-time favorite is Proverbs 8 which is also big on "riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity," in verse 18. But first comes verse 13, "FEAR the Lord and hate evil ..." Proverbs 22:4 brings it home, "Humility and the FEAR of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life."

If you need any further convincing of God’s priorities in Proverbs, look at the following:

The key issue in Proverbs is wisdom. We are told to "get wisdom" and "cry out" for it. It is the "principal thing." And how do we get this wisdom? First, we must have a reverential fear of the Lord, to understand the awesomeness of His presence (because the FEAR of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom as we see in Proverbs 9:19); and then we are told to simply ask for it. "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all ..." (James 1:5).

Ultimately, what we glean from a careful study of Proverbs is a deep sense of the awesomeness of the presence and the power of God, and that all the blessings and benefits are an outworking of our trust in and obedience to Him. Philip Yancey in his notes to the Zondervan Student Bible puts it this way, "If you look at Proverbs as a book, rather than a collection of unrelated fragments, you will find that its 'how-tos' for wise living can't be separated from God.

"The Book never for a moment endorses success techniques that involve immorality. More importantly, a deep sense of people's sin and their utter dependence on God pervades Proverbs. Wisdom, that fundamental tool for living, starts with the fear of God and leads to a knowledge of Him ... The words Lord or God are actually mentioned nearly 100 times, so a complete study of God's place in Proverbs takes you through virtually the entire book."

God promises us many times throughout His Word that He wants us to be blessed, to prosper, to have long life and good health. But He balances that with a clear mandate that we are also to be holy, and have righteousness and integrity as the mainstays of our character.

The Book of Proverbs, read through eyes illumined by the Holy Spirit, is a clear and consistent witness to that delicate but vital balance between integrity and blessing, and between holiness and prosperity. The wisdom to understand and internalize that balance, so that something practical results, comes first from a clear understanding of the fundamental need to fear and reverence the Lord of lords and the King of kings.