Hair, Money and the Journey

Hear this all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together! Psalm 49 1-2

It's been a long slow walk lately. No, I haven't been trying to find my way through a damp, dark tunnel. It's not been a major crisis that has catapulted me into dire straits or emotional tumult. No, this walk had been out in the open, some days in the sunshine, some days in the rain. It's been a recovery walk of slipping and sliding between denial and obedience, repentance and forgiveness. It's been day in and day out, and it has been economically costly. A strange season about hair, money, and the journey. But it's amazing what thirty-dollar bottles of shampoo have taught me!

The road I am referring to is the dreaded, don't talk about it, finance road. You know the one; buy this, sell that, pay this, late on that. The money road is one I would avoid altogether if it weren't such an integral pathway to where I want to be.

I find myself looking around me, taking note of those who seem unscathed. You, no doubt, have noticed them too. You may be one of them; well-bred, well-educated, well-positioned, safe, sound, and secure. Perhaps you experience all of those things. We used to...but today, not so much.

Today is filled with budgets and scrimping, job searches, and coupons. Yet, my delights come more from bargains and clearance sales than name brands and fashion trends. Thirty-dollar shampoo bottles have been replaced with store brands, and facial products are found in the grocery store instead of on the Internet. All those changes and choices are impactful and noticeable, but perhaps the most evident to me in this particular journey is a perception change and a dramatic shift in my priorities. Let me explain...

In the rugged terrain of financial travel, some challenges are so significant that some have even taken their own lives rather than nakedly scale the mountains of loss. Giving up some man-created standard of living seems like a death sentence. Gratitude is all but absent. Generosity is not even a consideration. The all too familiar blinders travelers are willing to wear in the name of comfort and position serve only to block our ability to see others have so much less than we do.

We are wealthy in our country. We are so rich that even our cars have their own room when some humans worldwide do not. In fact, if you are the poorest of Americans, you are still wealthier than sixty percent of the rest of the world! Probably doesn't feel that way to you, though, does it? Didn't feel that way to us either. That could be because we measure our security, safety, and worth against the wrong standards.

Psalm 49 paints a pretty clear picture of the godless wealthy. After pondering what the psalmist has to say, I have to tell you, my feeling fortunate meter swung hard in the opposite direction of self-pity. Let me share a bit of my heart change with you.

The beginning of this psalm calls the attention of all people, young and old, rich and poor. The wisdom applies to all, so that includes you and me. Verse five asks us, "Why should I, we, you, fear wicked deceivers?" Who are they, these wicked deceivers? Some of us think they are the Wall Street Gang. Some of us believe they are our creditors. Some of us think they are the mortgage people who sold us a bill of goods and a house bill that increases monthly.

For some of us, the wicked deceivers are our personal enemies. For me, they are the thoughts in my brain that try to convince my heart that the wealthier around me are somehow better, more righteous, cleaner, and more saved.

Verses six through eight remind us very pointedly that no matter how large the fortunes have grown, their owners cannot rely on them to redeem their life or the lives of others. If their child is dying from a fatal disease, they cannot purchase her way to good health. If that same child dies and does not know Jesus as her personal redeemer, she then stays eternally separated from love, goodness, and light. Forever.

In fact, verse eight says that no payment is ever enough. The ransom for a life is costly. Verse ten reminds us of a standard view we all share; 'All can see that wise men die, the foolish and senseless alike perish…though they had named lands after them.'

So what? Bill Gates is going to die? Oprah will die? Sister Mary Margaret will die? Verse twelve says that man, 'despite his riches, does not endure.' And then what happens? Verse thirteen tells us this is the fate of those who trust in themselves; death will feed on them, and their forms will decay in the grave. Apparently, maggots and worms make no distinction between rich flesh and poor flesh.

Seems to me here that all of a sudden, in the moment of the last breath of life, I am just as insignificant as Oprah! That is a sobering, mind-blowing contemplation, isn't it? My lack of wealth and her abundance is of no impact on that first day of death. But wait! There is a "but God" in this psalm.

Verses fifteen and sixteen say that God will redeem my life from the grave: 'He will surely take me to Himself. Do not be overawed when a man grows rich-when the splendor of his house increases, for he will take nothing with him when he dies. His splendor will not descend with him.' There you have it, folks! No partying in the pit. No buying and selling. No comfort in winning or the ability to bid the most. None of it. None, just the sound of maggots and worms crawling right over the golden adornments to do their work on flesh. Those who understand this live considerably differently in this world than those who don't. Verse twenty says, 'A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.'

I am not wealthy. I could be better educated. But today, I have prayed a faith-filled prayer that I know God will answer abundantly; "God grant me more understanding than riches."

This prayer is already being answered because I know Jesus has redeemed my life for now in this world and forever in the next one. I am wealthy. I am rich. I will now determine to gain understanding and thus leave behind rivers of generosity and love. For me, that's way better than leaving behind empty thirty-dollar shampoo bottles. And even my hairdresser can't tell!

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