Do you believe in the prosperity gospel? Do you think that following God means an easy life? Is following God the ticket to health, wealth, and prosperity? Probably not, and few of us actually believe it. However, knowing it’s not true does not stop any of us from wanting it to be true or even living our lives to prove it. Just like we want Santa to be real and to give good people good gifts and naughty kids lumps of coal, we know deep down, the truth. But we still play the game and act out parts of the Santa story. We want the good people to succeed and evil people to suffer. We want justice in the world. But what do we do with our unmet longings and desires as we follow the Lord? If we are not to use our relationship with God as a means to get what we want, what are we to do?
And…wasn’t the prosperity gospel true in the Old Testament, at least? I mean, didn’t the Jews… “prosper?” Again, I often think that was the case. Abraham was wealthy, and Isaac and Jacob. But no. The prosperity gospel never was and never will be true, on earth.
The book of Jeremiah shows us how untrue the prosperity gospel is. Jeremiah, a prophet of the Lord, faithfully spoke God’s truth as he had been led by the Lord. Remember that Jeremiah’s book in the Bible is a whopping 52 chapters, whereas the prophet Jonah’s book is only a mere 4 chapters long. The Bible does not say why, but I wonder if it’s because Jeremiah kept walking with the Lord and doing His will despite the difficulties, whereas Jonah may have quit. Yet do not forget that Jeremiah also wrote the entire book of Lamentations, where he poured out his heart and, dare I say, the man had…feelings, to the Lord. He never denied that following God had its challenges.
JAIL
In Jeremiah 37, Jeremiah was minding his own business and on his way to take care of some property stuff. You know, like the man had to pay taxes, claim his property, or do something like responsible adult would do. But on his way, he was accused of doing wrong by an official. The result? They threw him in prison! While minding his own business and carrying on life, he was sent to jail. Not because he was a Jew, but because he was a prophet and the people did not like what God had to say. They did not like people who worked for the Lord. It made them uncomfortable. They felt convicted. They did not want to change their ways. They would rather get rid of all such causes of discomfort, like Jeremiah. Sound familiar? Do you know anyone like that? Perhaps people in your life dislike you because of the God you serve.
Meanwhile, after Jeremiah was released from prison, he still had to stay in the courtyard of the guard. IE: he had to stay close to the king. So what did Jeremiah do? Did he weep and write the book of Lamentations? Possibly. But mainly, he kept on preaching! In Jeremiah 38, he was preaching God’s Word when “the officials said to the king, ‘This man should be put to death’” (verse 4). These evil men did not simply want Jeremiah in jail or contained, they wanted Jeremiah dead! They never wanted to hear the Word of God again. They never wanted to deal with the discomfort that hearing God’s Word produced, ever. Being one to succumb to peer pressure, the king granted the men permission to do as they wished with Jeremiah. Note, the king did not kill Jeremiah himself or have one of his guards put Jeremiah to death. The king simply put Jeremiah in the hands of the evil men. Do you think the king knew what would happen? Possibly.
Well, no surprise, the men realized that apparently killing someone was harder than they thought. Joseph’s brothers realized this same truth years earlier. I suppose being the descendants of such brothers, we probably should not be surprised they did the same thing. The apple does not fall far from the tree. History repeats itself. Ok, I know. By now, you’re dying for me to just tell you already WHAT HAPPENED??? They put Jeremiah in a well, just like Joseph’s brothers did to him, instead of killing him, like they talked about. All talk and no action to go with it. I wonder if that’s what stopped those evil men from following God in the first place. Was it just too hard? And no, Jeremiah was not sold into slavery like Joseph. But he did start to sink into the mud at the bottom of the well (Jeremiah 38:6). Eeek!
SPEAK UP
Jeremiah very easily could have died in that well. But here’s the glorious part. One of the other officials heard about it and said something (Proverbs 31:8-9)! Just as all those meanies had gone to the king to try to have Jeremiah killed (even though they did not want to do it themselves, thank you Jesus!), another man also went to the king to speak up for Jeremiah telling the king that Jeremiah would die if left there (Jeremiah 38:7-9)! Then the king ordered the nice official to “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies (Jeremiah 38:10).”
God preserved Jeremiah so that he was able to continue doing God’s work. How often do we want something simply for our own use? We want a mate because we’re lonely. We want obedient kids so that our lives will be easier and we will look good. We want our kids, friends, and family to follow Christ. We want a bigger house, a nicer car, a higher paying job, but why? “When you ask [God for things], you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). That verse can be hard to stomach, especially when we ask God for things that align with His will.
Jeremiah did not live an easy life. Most of Jeremiah’s difficulties arose as a result of following the Lord. Yet every time God preserved him, he continued the work God had given him to do. Jeremiah was faithful to the Lord, not to pursuing an easy life. The prosperity gospel was far from true for Jeremiah. He definitely did not get all the things he wanted. Following God did not produce popularity, wealth, or many, if anything good for Jeremiah. Yet I believe he had a deep seeded peace about it and a million heavenly rewards as a result.
Jeremiah may have felt alone during his lifetime, but he was not alone compared to others throughout the Bible. When Joseph and Mary were abandoned by their family and left to birth their first child in a manger among animals, they knew the prosperity gospel was far from true. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again and all but one of the disciples were martyred for their faith, they knew the prosperity gospel was not true. They knew following Jesus was not about gaining health, wealth, and prosperity. They all knew they had a better and more lasting treasure in heaven (1 Peter 1:3-9).
Since Jesus, we have seen countless people give up their wealth and even their lives as a result of following Christ. Many who opposed Hitler were murdered for it. Countless missionaries have been murdered by those they attempted to reach with the gospel. I cannot for a minute think that they believed in the prosperity gospel. They all knew that “friendship with the world means enmity toward God” (James 4:4b). They knew that following God was better than living an easy life here on earth.
Gaining wealth is not sinful, but following God as a means to attain wealth is. Wanting an easier life is not sinful, but following God as a means to get anything except for God Himself, is. I feel we have just scratched the surface here. But I encourage you to consider some questions. In what ways did you think your life would change if you followed God? In what ways have you been disappointed because you expected something from God that He never promised to give?
GOOD GIFTS
So what do we do with our unmet longings and desires as we follow God? We give them back to Him, trusting that all good gifts are from above and that God is a good Father who does not withhold good from His children (James 1:17; Matthew 7:9-12). But we still have longings! That’s when we choose to trust God that He knows what is best for us as opposed to us thinking we know what is best for us. We seek Him and pray to Him about what we want. But at the end of the day, with or without our desires met, we know that the deepest desire of our hearts will always be met by Him. We also choose to trust that He knows what is best for us and will give us what we need as He sees fit. Just like a good parent does not give their child everything they ask for all at once. So too our good Heavenly Father gives us good gifts as He sees fit.
I cannot share this without sharing a personal example from my own life. I had always grown up wanting to live in town in the small town where I grew up living about a mile outside of town. As an adult, some tragedy hit and most of my life fell apart. Yet in the midst of that crazy, God allowed the dream of living in town in the small town in which I grew up to become a reality. It’s nothing like I imagined and yet it’s wonderful all the same.
Do you believe in the prosperity gospel, that faithfulness to God will result in getting what you want? Or will you still pray, ask, seek, knock, but ultimately choose to trust God with your deepest desires believing that He’s a good Father who wants to give you good gifts?
PS: A short read on this topic is Jesus’ Terrible Financial Advice by John Thornton.
