Have you memorized Proverbs 21:5? - “Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty.” You may know it by heart, but taking it to heart is a different thing altogether and you must follow both parts to be financially successful.
Have you memorized Proverbs 21:5? It states, “Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty.” You may know it by heart, but taking it to heart is a different thing altogether. It’s a double-edged verse and you must follow both parts to be financially successful. We’ll talk about that today on Faith and Finance.
There are two sides to Proverbs 21:5, and they’re really about not giving up and not giving in. Steady plodding means not giving up, and hasty speculation means giving in … to greed.
THE PERILS OF HASTY SPECULATION
Consider the real-life story of an executive at a major western bank, and to protect his anonymity, we’ll just call him Brian.
Starting his career in finance back in the 1990s, Brian probably thought he was pretty good at managing money, although he admits he was living beyond his means and accumulating debt.
That left him vulnerable to the promise of great riches at the peak of the dot.com craze in early 2000. Like so many others at the time, Brian hadn’t grasped the biblical truth that hasty speculation brings poverty.
When a coworker offered to bring him in on the ground floor of a “can’t lose” tech startup, Brian was “all in.” He invested $10,000 he managed to scrape together and as he describes it, got ready to pop champagne corks.
But the only popping Brian heard was the dot.com bubble bursting. He lost everything by investing in a company he knew nothing about. He had “given in” to hasty speculation and paid the price. As Proverbs 28:20 warns, “A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.”
Of course, God doesn’t sit around and wait for you to make foolish mistakes with money so He can punish you. He doesn’t have to, because the consequences of poor money management happen all on their own, and those consequences can be severe. Hasty speculation borne of greed is just one example.
1 Timothy 6:9 and 10 warns, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Okay, so much for not giving in, now for not giving up. That’s a short definition of steady plodding— a longer one would be living within your means, avoiding debt, saving for short term needs and investing consistently for long term needs … and to do those things for a very long time. That’s steady plodding.
And you might think it doesn’t sound very exciting, but don’t be fooled. There’s plenty of drama in staying the course and following God’s financial principles. When you do, you’ll experience highs and lows, great peace and contentment and probably some discouraging setbacks along the way.
God’s Word addresses this, too. In James 1:2-4 we find, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
So God’s Word encourages us to not give up, and this is where we get back our story of Brian the banker. Fortunately, he didn’t give up, even after losing all his money. Instead, he took a course on biblical money management through his church, and that’s when things started to turn around for him.
Brian says God’s Word taught him to be more frugal and disciplined with money. He saved and eventually began investing in real estate— something he knew more about. He started small and went slowly, with no get-rich-quick scheme, just steady plodding.
And over the years, it paid off. Because he wasn’t over-leveraged, Brian’s real estate venture survived the housing crash and Great Recession. Eventually, he was able to start a fitness-related business with his son—a dream he’d had for many years— and that business survived COVID and today is thriving.
Brian says that learning to be more disciplined with budgeting, saving, and investing was an essential part of his financial turnaround … but doing those things over a long period of time was critical. Steady plodding brought Brian out of financial ruin … to eventual financial success and security.
If you suffer a setback … dust yourself off and keep going. Galatians 6:9 offers this encouragement, “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.”
On this program, Rob also answers listener questions:
What should you do if an authorized user on your credit card account is misusing the account?
Will your children have to pay an inheritance tax when you pass away?
What is the wisest way to use the proceeds from the sale of a rental home?
What can you do to minimize the tax liability associated with retirement investments
Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Also, visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community, and even download the free FaithFi app.
