Mae West, Judy Resnick, and Sophie Tucker have all famously said, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor, and rich is better.” We can see glimpses of that same perspective in the book of Proverbs, many centuries earlier: and the biblical view provides much more nuance than that single quotable line could be.

We can see that having the right attitude will generally lead to success: “The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4). And, as we saw a couple of days ago, a lifestyle of sloth will generally have unhappy results: “How long will you lie there, O lazybones? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will comes upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior” (6:9-11). It’s clear that life in poverty will never be an attractive choice to anyone who is paying attention: “All the days of the poor are hard” (15:15).

Yet it’s too simple just to shrug and say “rich is better.” Today’s reading insists, “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it” (15:16-17). “Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife” (17:1).

Thus Proverbs gives us the recognition that both too much and too little money can get us into trouble. This comes to its fullest expression in the prayer of Agur, the author of Proverbs 30: “remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or I shall be poor, and steal and profane the name of my God” (30:8-9). Many people are afraid of being poor, but few have the insight to fear the danger of being rich, and fewer still are those who pray that God will keep them from that danger.

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Teach us to set our heart’s desire on you, O Lord. Call us back from our dependence on wealth and prosperity: set us free from the idolatry that imagines that if we just had enough money, that would save us. Let us seek you, day by day, confident that you are the treasure that we need.