Proverbs 11:28

This short, pointed saying comes from the book of Proverbs — a collection of wisdom writings, many attributed to King Solomon, designed to help people live well and wisely. It draws a sharp contrast between two kinds of security: one built on wealth, and one rooted in righteousness — which means living rightly before God and others. The person who builds their life on financial security will eventually find that foundation failing them. The image of the 'green leaf' for the righteous is deliberately vivid — a green leaf is alive, drawing nourishment from a deep root system, staying resilient even in dry seasons not because of its own toughness but because of what it's connected to.

Father, I confess how often I look to money for the security only you can give. Help me root my life in you rather than in what I earn or own. Make me the kind of person whose leaf stays green even when things get dry. Amen.

Money makes a compelling promise. With enough of me, it says, you'll be safe. With enough of me, you'll matter. You won't have to be afraid. And for a while, that story is believable — even intoxicating. But Proverbs has been watching human beings for millennia, and its verdict is consistent: the ones who build entirely on that foundation eventually fall. Not necessarily because they go broke, though that happens too. But because wealth is a foundation that shifts beneath you. Markets turn. Companies collapse. One health crisis costs everything. The leaf that draws its life from money is always one drought away from dying. The 'green leaf' image is worth sitting with. A leaf that stays green in late summer, when everything around it is turning brown and brittle, isn't surviving because of its own toughness — it's surviving because it's connected to a root system that goes deeper than the surface. Righteousness isn't about being morally perfect; it's about staying connected to God and living in ways that align with how he made the world to work. Where are you actually drawing your sense of security from? The truest answer to that question reveals itself not on good days, but the moment something threatens to take it away.