Luke 12:16-17 (KJV) – “16 And He spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?”
Let’s read between the lines.
The man was already rich as his ground brought forth plentifully.
He had a lot of crops but lacked room to store them. This means the Lord had blessed him so much that he did not have enough room to receive it. This language is similar to the one in Malachi 3:10. Part of if says, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
The rich man acknowledged that he was rich and, therefore, he wanted to secure his wealth.
Verse 17 says, “and he thought within himself.” This means he was worried about losing his hard-earned wealth and wanted to secure it so that it may be safe.
What does the Bible say about worrying? Luke 12:22 (KJV) – “And He said unto His disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.”
Worrying results from not trusting in God. Let’s see how dangerous worrying can get:
In Genesis 19, God resolved to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah but wanted to save Lot and his family. Therefore, He commanded them to rise up early so they may not be destroyed and gave them plain instructions not to look back. In Verse 26, Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt because she looked back. Looking back was a sign of worrying. By worrying, she lost her life on the spot.
Let’s look at another example. The Lord instructed that no one should ever touch the Ark of the Covenant. In 2 Samuel 6:6, the oxen cart carrying the Ark of the Covenant shook, and Uzzah worried it might fall. Therefore he decided to hold it so that it didn’t fall. This action angered the Lord and consequently killed Uzzah on the spot. Uzzah was worried. He failed to trust that God could hold the ark from falling. Worrying (even though it was for the best of intentions) resulted in him disobeying God, which made God to punish him.
Worrying results from failing to trust God. Failure to trust God is disbelief.
“God does not honour lack of faith; God does not condone honour disobedience.” – Pastor Randy Skeete.
What curse does the Lord assure those who do not trust in Him?
Jeremiah 17:5-6 (KJV) – “5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm (and makes worldly things his source of strength, because the arm signifies strength), and whose heart departeth from the Lord. 6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh (meaning even when blessings surround him, he shall not be able to see them); but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness (the wilderness is a bad place to be in, the parched places mean the worst places in the wilderness, meaning in times of bad situations and circumstances, he shall experience the worst of it all. When you trust in God even in bad situations, you will experience the best part of it), in a salt land and not inhabited. (He shall be lonely and empty).”
What blessing does the Lord assure us for trusting and hoping in Him?
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (KJV) – “7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters (meaning he shall never thirst), and that spreadeth out her roots by the river (shall have a firm, strong foundation and shall always grow), and shall not see when heat cometh (shall not be shaken by the trouble/the problems that surround him), but her leaf shall be green (shall be blessed); and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit (shall always be blessed and no matter, what is happening around them, their efforts shall consistently profit and be of benefit to others).”
Psalm 146:5 – “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”
2 Corinthians 20 says, “Believe in God, so shall ye be established.”
When God gives you a commandment, He expects you to obey it fully, no matter your condition or situation.
In Matthew 4, the first temptation Jesus faced after praying and fastint in the wilderness, met His need for survival. He was hungry because He had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, and the devil came to test Him to turn stones into bread.
Try to picture that scene in your mind first, then listen to what Jesus told him. Matthew 4:4 (KJV) – “But He answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Jesus chose to trust and obey God’s Word and put it above His most essential survival need at the time, which was food. This is a quote that he quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3 (KJV) – “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor your fathers know (meaning you knew nothing about it, where it was from and had completely no idea if it will come again) that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Let us analyze this carefully:
The Lord took the Israelites on a journey to the wilderness, where there was no food or water. Those are things that human beings need to survive. In Egypt, they suffered as enslaved people but had access to a lot of food (Numbers 11:4). In the wilderness, they did not have access to food. Food came from heaven. What does this mean? This means they were entirely dependent on God’s promises which is God’s Word, as they couldn’t work and receive wages. Even if they had worked and received wages, there would be nowhere to buy food.
Working is essential to earning a living, but you cannot entirely depend on it. You need to rest on God’s Word because God is the one who invented work.
Some people were so hardworking but have found themselves in unexpected rough situations that have stopped them from working. Some have been paralyzed and bedridden. Some have been retrenched unexpectedly, while others have had companies they were working for crumble. During the corona pandemic period, some lost their jobs. Nevertheless, the Lord takes care of them due to His abundant mercy and extraordinary grace.
Some people have significantly accomplished in their lives but still, feel empty. They think there is something more they need and don’t understand what it is. An ideal example is a public story I read about Brad Pitt, who is a renowned Hollywood actor. Brad is worth over 300 million dollars, and before his divorce from Angelina Jolie, he was a self-proclaimed atheist.
After Brad’s divorce, despite having numerous state-of-the-art houses around the world, he said that he used to sleep on the floor in his friend’s house as he felt too sad to live in his palatial residence. Later, he decided to embrace religion to find peace/rest in his heart. Matthew 11:28 (KJV) – “Come unto me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
True peace that surpasses understanding can only be found in the Lord. Philippians 4:7 (KJV) – “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Luke 12:23 (KJV) – “The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.”
Meat represents food, and raiment is a synonym for clothing. Food and clothing are basic needs. They are not luxury goods. They are essential things needed for survival. God is trying to tell you that life is more than surviving. He created these things intentionally to aid in sustaining us. There is no problem with acquiring them. The problem lies in depending on these things for life and not relying on God as He is the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them (Proverbs 146:6).
Let’s go a little deeper. If a tap was not connected to a tank or a water source, and you open the tap, would there be water? The answer is there would not be any water. Depending solely on the tap can be likened to depending on what the world has to offer and not on God, who is the source.
Let’s look at how dangerous it is to put the essentials of survival above God:
Genesis 25:30-34 (KJV) – “ 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.”
Jacob valued the spiritual above the material. Esau loved the material above the spiritual. Esau was facing an extremity (he was at the point of dying), and he needed to survive, therefore selling a long-time blessing for a short time need. In the same way, most of us are willing to sell eternal life for earthly needs.
One problem with worrying is that no matter how much you worry, you will never have a personal ability to solve your issues 100%. This is because we are limited and we live in an imperfect world. As is illustrated in Luke 12:25-26 (KJV) – “And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? 26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?”
Luke 12:18-19 (KJV) – “And he said, this will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”
By thinking he has fully secured his riches, the rich man did not take into account the following situations that might arise:
- First, he did not think of what would happen after he had built the store, and the crops increased in that they would not be able to fit in the store.
- He did not think of what would happen if a flood came and destroyed all the crops.
- He did not consider what would happen if a drought came and his crops stopped growing and finished what he had in store.
- The rich man did not stop to think about what would have happened if thieves broke in and stole.
This is how shallow we can be when we fail to trust and obey God.
One may use scrupulous means of wealth acquisition, like misappropriating public resources for personal use to secure his future, not considering what may happen. He doesn’t know if he will collapse and die the next minute.
Luke 12:20-21 (KJV) – “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
The rich man resolved to earthly solutions of securing his riches by building a larger store. He believed that by making a larger store, he would be able to secure his riches. Unfortunately, He died that night.
The rich man laid up treasures for himself but was not rich toward God. He was rich materially but poor spiritually. There is no problem in seeking earthly solutions for our worldly issues because we are in the world. The problem is trusting in them.
GOD BLESS YOU!
Author: Mark Alex
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