God's Promise of Prosperity
“Whatsoever he doeth shall p?-osper” — Ps. i. 3.
Our first thought is, what a grand promise, what an incentive to the good man to he good! Who would not be a saint to have such purple and fine linen and sumptuous faring every day, to have a passport through the world to fortune, to be promised that in all things he should prosper? Our second thought is, is it true? Do we see that the saint prospers in whatsoever he doeth? Does it not rather seem as if the man of God were the man of.
special burdens, labouring more than others, heavy laden above his fellows. Our third thought is, have we rightly read the promise? Does it mean what we have taken it to mean? Is it really said that the good man shall prosper in whatsoever he doeth? Nay, but something very different is said, “Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” The Psalmist is not thinking of the man, but of the work. The prosperity which he promises is not the earthly triumph of the individual, but the earthly triumph of the truth which he proclaims. The man himself may die ere his work be done. Moses may sink weary by the wayside and the commonplace Joshua in his room may enter in, but his work shall not die, it shall be found again after many days: “Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
Does this seem to thee a less glorious reading of the promise? If thou art a man of God it cannot do so. To the man of God there is nothing so dear as the work of God. No promise would to him be so sweet as the prosperity of that work, not even the promise of his own prosperity. Art thou dearer to thyself than thy work? then thou art not yet fit to be a worker. If thou shalt stand on Mount Nebo and behold the Promised Land of thine own labours which yet thou thyself shalt never reach, wilt thou weep because Joshua shall enter in? If so, it shall not be written of thee, “His eye was not dim, nor - his natural strength abated.” But if the spirit of Christ be thine, if thou shalt merge thyself in thy labour, if thou shalt lose thyself in the glory of thy mission, thine is, indeed, a vision undimmed. Thou shalt see of the travail of thy soul and shalt be satisfied — satisfied because others shall reap in joy what thou hast sown in tears. Thy surest word of prophecy shall be thy highest source of blessing: “Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”