I. INTRODUCTION 

The main thesis of the Bible pertains to God’s exaltation through man’s redemption. Ephesians 2:7 states, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. God’s whole economy of salvation is meant to show His attribute of grace. The context of this statement has to do with the redeeming work of Christ—in that the cross displays God’s grace—that He would save anyone from personal rebellion toward Him reflects His very nature. By His abundant grace alone is anyone saved. 

Through these salvific kindnesses, God’s goodness and glory redound to all mankind in the past, present, and future. Why the Fall? Why the cross? God’s economy of the Fall and the cross (as compared to man’s never falling and God’s no longer needing to graciously save through His Son) serves to illuminate the grace of God. Otherwise, His attribute of grace would be inconspicuous to man. 

The point is that nothing else in the Bible eclipses this overarching theme. Make no mistake here, the big picture is all about the greatness of God! 

A. THE BIG PICTURE 

But what does all that introductory material have to do with this Bible study? Many other truths within His Holy Writ, such as one’s health, peace of mind, and wellbeing, comport with this theme. They are not the central focus of Scripture, but nonetheless serve to illustrate as well the surpassing riches of His grace. The Scriptures for sure instruct us regarding a variety of subjects, such as self-help, relationships, and ancient history. These numerous topics provide a roadmap for a happy family, among many other themes. 

In that God was in no way bound to provide us with all these helps, they too serve to a lesser degree to illustrate the surpassing riches of His grace. (I use the word “lesser” because the former, in order to provide redemption, cost Him far more.) These somewhat hierarchical truths need to be clear at the introduction of this study for the following reason: 

Many “ministries” would have you seek health, wealth, and prosperity as if they were primary objectives of the Bible. 

Such ministries represent an aberrant man-centered, not God-centered, theology. The Christian life is not about you; it’s about Him! And He is the essential reason why we must begin a topical study on health, wealth, and prosperity with Ephesians 2:7 in view. 

B. PROSPERITY AND PERSECUTION 

The proverbs that follow are general principles of Scripture, not promises, and importantly, we must synthesize this subject theologically with the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1–12), wherein Jesus deems persecution as normative for all believers who live godly lives. Generally speaking, the following proverbs are true—if not externally because of persecution, then internally due to the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. This seeming dichotomy is captured in Proverbs 14:13: 

Even in laughter the heart may be in pain, and the end of joy may be grief. 

C. SUMMARY OF INTRODUCTION 

With the big picture of the preeminence of God’s glory noted and the tension between prosperity and persecution better understood, Proverbs states, in those contexts, much about health, well-being, and blessings, including how we gain or lose them—both as a recipient and as a giver. What follows in this study is an attempt to unfurl the breadth and depth of this preceding sentence through the following outline. My hope is that this study will minister to your present needs, given your ultra-fast-paced calling in life. 

II. PERSONAL BLESSINGS

A. THE PRECURSOR TO GOD’S BLESSING 

Everyone wants God’s blessing in his or her life. But disobedience to Him and His Word often play into Christians’ lives. Obedience is the precursor to blessing. People sometimes wonder why they are not being blessed. For example, lazy believers may live with a predilection of obedience to God’s Word when, in fact, they lack habitual industriousness. There is an obvious disconnect. Perhaps they’ve developed a skill of “spiritualizing” their way out of hard work (as if Genesis 3:17–19 were not in the Bible). Many wonder why their lives are not characterized by God’s blessing and by wellbeing when, in fact, they are disobedient to His principles that are plainly revealed in Scripture! Being a hearer of the Word and not a doer ( James 1:21–27) leads to a jaundiced Christian life. Those people who struggle with the connection between hearing God’s Word and doing His will experience difficulties instead of blessings in this life. 

Blessings from God are directly proportional to obedience to God in each area of our life. 

James 1:25 is a wonderful passage that has often and continually sobered me to the gravity of obedience. Memorizing and meditating on this verse has helped me to be serious about applying what I learn from Scripture—versus going through the motions and nonetheless expecting God’s blessing: 

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. 

This New Testament passage summarizes well what Proverbs states is the key to personal blessing. Effectual doers of the Word are those who are serious about obedience, who struggle and war against their sin nature, whose lifestyles are characterized by constant repentance, change, and growth. These are the people who make the tough choices to abide by God’s precepts. A key word to understand in this passage is abide (parameno), which means “to remain beside or near.” Parameno also translates as effectual doer. Other English equivalents are “work” and “making.” It follows that if you fail to continually work at making God’s Word beside or near your life, then you are to some degree disobedient to Christ’s Lordship and therefore should not expect His abundances of blessings as listed in the following proverbs. This cause-and-effect relationship should not be underestimated. 

Accordingly, in your post-election exhilaration, the degree to which you are obedient to God’s Word is the degree to which you will experience the following aspects of His blessings as depicted by these specific proverbs. Don’t be self-deceived into thinking otherwise, my friend. 

B. GOD’S BLESSING OF PHYSICAL HEALTH 

In Proverbs, the spiritual/mental wellbeing of an individual is often indicated by the blessing of physical health. Again, that is not always absolutely the case, but in principle, it often is. Ask yourself if any of the following health robbers apply to you. Some of the following mental/ spiritual causes of problems diminish physical health and this sense of personal blessing. Again, note the connection between the spiritual/ mental to the physical in each of the subpoints that follow. 

1. Arrogance 

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones (Proverbs 3:7–8). 

The second portion of this proverb provides a remedy for the first portion. After winning a campaign or two, it is easy to fall into the trap of self-importance. Instead, fear the Lord. Why? Because He is the One Who appointed you to office—it was not your cleverness. Do not forget Romans 13:1 in this regard: 

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 

You did not gain office by yourself ! Remember that God establishes all governing authorities. Such meditations will greatly curtail being wise in your own eyes. Whereas arrogance leads to ill health, to fear the Lord instead will prove healing and bring refreshment to your bones. 

 2. Disobedience 

My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body (Proverbs 4:20–22). 

This proverbial passage parallels and amplifies James 1:25. Notice the verb phrases, give attention, incline, do not let them depart, keep them. All such words are cherished in the hearts of effectual doers; take them seriously. The result? They are health to all [your] body. 

3. Jealousy 

A tranquil heart is life to the body, but jealousy is rottenness to the bones (Proverbs 14:30 HCSB). 

Prolonged attitudes of jealousy, such as desiring the office another possesses, Proverbs states, can lead to personal health issues and the lack of blessing. What are you doing conscientiously after the election to guard against this covetousness? 

4. Self-pity 

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones (Proverbs 17:22).

The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but as for a broken spirit who can bear it? (Proverbs 18:14). 

Melancholy dispositions, sunken by afflictions such as the loss of an election, are herein referred to as a broken spirit. If harbored, self-pity can lead to physical ailments. This mindset must be eradicated and superseded by an immediate, habitual trust in the sovereignty of God. Don’t allow the loss of an election to equate to a loss of life! So many other opportunities are available that God expects you to fulfill for His glory! The sooner you get over pitying yourself, the better off you’ll be. 

Solomon says arrogance, disobedience, jealousy, and self-pity are gangsters who are out to rob you of your physical health. 

Arrest these culprits today, and you will experience God’s blessings to a greater degree tomorrow! 

C. GOD’S BLESSING OF JOY AND HAPPINESS 

When followers of Christ walk in obedience, they set in motion a sowing-and-reaping kind of blessing. This is another form of blessing that inures to the effectual doer, bringing peace, joy, and happiness. The idea of obedience to God’s commandments is personified with a feminine pronoun in chapter three of Proverbs: 

For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you (Proverbs 3:2). 

Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast (Proverbs 3:17–18). 

Several other proverbs that equate obedience with peace and happiness are as follows: 

When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him (Proverbs 16:7). 

All the days of the afflicted are bad, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast (Proverbs 15:15). 

God’s blessings yield health, peace, joy, and prosperity. 

D. GOD’S BLESSING OF PROSPERITY 

Effectual doers are blessed with prosperity. The proverb that follows visually depicts this state of success by the growth of a tree, which naturally expands and gets larger, bearing more fruit. Prosperity and increase should be understood not just in a material sense, but also in the sense of growing God’s kingdom, as per the second portion in the context of the first: 

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls (Proverbs 11:30). 

Notice that part of God’s blessing is our sense of being used by Him to expand His kingdom. What an inner joy fulfilling that purpose brings every believer! Notice this idea in the first part of the following Proverb: 

Desire realized is sweet to the soul, but it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil (Proverbs 13:19). 

E. GOD’S BLESSING OF LONG LIFE 

The Bible is replete with this wonderful promise. 

For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you (Proverbs 3:2). 

Again, the “they” used in the previous verse is a contextual reference in chapter three of keeping God’s commandments. Ephesians 6:3, which is a quote from Exodus 20:12 in the Old Testament (OT) Torah, promises long life to those who obey their parents: so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. 

Summarily, health, joy, happiness, prosperity, and long life are all forms of blessing that Solomon says come to roost in the life of the effectual doer of the Word of God. 

Post-election, shift your primary focus back in the direction of obedience to the Word of God. 

III. CORPORATE BLESSINGS 

Proverbs provides the formula for well being, not only for individuals but also for society as a whole. Here are some of the ways you can be a blessing to those who voted you into office. 

A. THROUGH RIGHTEOUS LIVING 

In the passage that follows, Solomon indicates that the personal righteousness of individuals engenders health, peace, and wellbeing to a city or society: 

When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there is joyful shouting (Proverbs 11:10). 

Individuals, whether righteous or wicked, are the building blocks of culture. A country is no greater than the sum character of its individuals. Much more could be exposited from this proverb, but of special insight is the following: people yearn for righteousness in society! That longing attests to the truth revealed in the first chapter of the book of Romans: that God’s laws are written on man’s heart. Internally, people possess a moral compass, and even though they may suppress that morality in their personal life ( John 3:19b states, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.), they give away the fact that they inherently know right from wrong by the mere fact that they yearn for righteousness in their city! While they may suppress their personal conscience, they tend not to suppress their corporate conscience! 

B. THROUGH RIGHTEOUS LAWS 

Whereas the first way for a public servant to bless others is through his or her personal character and righteousness, the second way is through the policies he enacts: laws that are just (which means they reflect the attributes of God). 

The exercise of justice is joy for the righteous, but is terror to the workers of iniquity (Proverbs 21:15). 

When you, the public servant, live both personally and vocationally in obedience to God’s Word, God will use your life as His surrogate to give health, peace, and prosperity to others. Are you a person who brings corporate blessings to others? 

Notice from the proverbs that follow the many ways in which you are blessed as you bless others: via your counsel of others, the use of your home, the proper raising of your children, and the manifest characteristics of nobility and loyalty. To concentrate on sowing blessings on others will reap personal blessings on you! 

Use your position to speak into others’ lives; bless others by sharing precepts from God’s Word with those whose lives you influence. King Solomon speaks to the idea of being a counselor to your colleagues: 

Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy (Proverbs 12:20). 

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad (Proverbs 12:25). 

A man has joy in an apt answer, and how delightful is a timely word (Proverbs 15:23). 

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones (Proverbs 16:24). 

Like cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a distant land (Proverbs 25:25). 

A sated man loathes honey, but to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet (Proverbs 27:7). 

Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend (Proverbs 27:9). 

The abundant passages regarding speaking into other’s lives indicate what a blessing such actions can be to both you and others! 

Bright eyes gladden the heart; good news puts fat on the bones (Proverbs 15:30). 

Being a good counselor and encourager to others is all a part of creating a corporate blessing in culture. 

C. THROUGH HOSPITALITY 

A home with hospitality can be a wonderful blessing and ministry tool to those with whom you personally interact. The spirit of a home where Christ dwells is far more impacting and comforting than that of a materially opulent home where He is nowhere to be found in the speech or atmosphere. People pick up on the spirit of a home almost immediately. 

Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it than a house full of feasting with strife (Proverbs 17:1). 

D. THROUGH CHILD RAISING 

Do not sacrifice your children on the altar of your career. If you invest in your kids consistently, they will become a lifetime blessing as the years roll by. Invest in your future by investing in your children today! Notice the plethora of proverbs that portray the blessing of your offspring. Keep in mind that they will represent the corporate culture of your nation tomorrow. 

A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother (Proverbs 15:20). 

He who sires a fool does so to his sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy (Proverbs 17:21). 

My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart also will be glad (Proverbs 23:15). 

The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who sires a wise son will be glad in him. Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her rejoice who gave birth to you (Proverbs 23:24–25). 

This next proverb is of particular importance to the credibility of a public servant. What better way to quell the character assassins than to be able to point to the nobility of your children: 

Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may reply to him who reproaches me (Proverbs 27:11). 

A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but he who keeps company with harlots wastes his wealth (Proverbs 29:3). 

E. THROUGH NOBILITY 

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles (Proverbs 24:17). 

Those who spike the ball in the end zone lack nobility. One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. Remember: your personal dignity leads to our culture’s dignity…or lack thereof. 

F. THROUGH LOYALTY 

A wicked messenger falls into adversity, but a faithful envoy brings healing (Proverbs 13:17). 

This proverb speaks to the opposite end of faithfulness in relationships: betrayal. Someone with whom you thought you were close, likened above to a messenger (a word portraying someone with whom you’ve become vulnerable) suddenly turns on you (contr. 1 Peter 2:18) for no biblical reason. Such actions create adversity, i.e., emotions and distance not easily remedied. In contrast, steadfastness in your relationships, genuinely caring for others, depicted below by the picture of a laborer meticulously tending a fig tree, aka loyalty to colleagues, creates a bountiful harvest in the future and is befitting of personal honor: 

He who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who cares for his master will be honored (Proverbs 27:18). 

Loyalty is an inestimable characteristic that not only heals and blesses others but honors yourself as well. 

IV. PERSONAL CURSINGS 

The opposite of blessing is cursing. Now notice how King Solomon speaks to the flip side in both a personal and corporate sense of prosperity. The practice of any of the following hinders God’s hand of blessing and will serve to thwart your future. 

A. NO HEALING 

Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil, who spreads strife. Therefore his calamity will come suddenly; instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing (Proverbs 6:14–15). 

Perhaps you just concluded your race against someone who is characterized by these proverbs? 

The underlying Hebrew word for perversity (iqqeshuth) means “to make crooked, to distort, to twist.” Such a heart manifests itself in devising evil and spreading strife. Biblical synonyms for strife are “contentions” and “quarrels.” Whereas Scripture says the pure in heart manifest peace (Matthew 5:1–6), the idea here is the opposite: “cursed are the quarrelsome!” Continual agitation and healing are juxtaposed to one another’s interests; we can’t do both at the same time! After all the fighting, mudslinging, and devising of evil during a campaign season, “’tis the season” to switch gears and heal up from it all! Elsewhere in Solomon’s wisdom writings, Ecclesiastes 3:3, he appropriately states: 

[There is] a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build up. 

B. BURNING OUT 

God promises refreshment and rekindling to men and women who meditate on His Word. Those who are steeped in obedience to it tend more so to live stable lives void of emotional highs and lows. They are invigorated and refreshed by His presence in their inner soul. Again, notice the same proverb that emphasizes this truth: 

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones (Proverbs 3:7–8). 

During the days of November and December following an election, always plan to drink deeply from His well as you recover from your deleterious marathon. You are most likely depleted. Fearing the Lord and imbibing from His Word will be refreshment to your bones like nothing else. 

V. CORPORATE CURSINGS

A. THROUGH RASH AND PERVERSE WORDS 

Be especially careful with words: 

There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing (Proverbs 12:18). 

A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit (Proverbs 15:4). 

Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda, is he who sings songs to a troubled heart (Proverbs 25:20). 

This is the season to bring healing and blessing to many with your words. Take to heart James 3:4–5, which says: 

Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 

B. THROUGH UNKEPT PROMISES 

Failing to keep promises hurts your spouse, child, peer, employee, or constituent. 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12). 

A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken (Proverbs 15:13). 

Folly is joy to him who lacks sense, but a man of understanding walks straight (Proverbs 15:21). 

The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but as for a broken spirit who can bear it? (Proverbs 18:14). 

As a leader, it is important to follow through so as not to crush the spirit of another. 

VI. CONCLUSION 

Most everyone wants to experience God’s maximum blessings in his life. In order to best understand that desire, we need to not only survey what it is He indeed blesses, but also come to grips with what God indeed despises—what He curses. Be especially diligent to avoid anything that diminishes His blessings in your life and your country.