Is material abundance a true sign of being blessed by God, or can it be nothing but fools’ gold? Many times when you point out to someone that what they are doing is outside of God’s will, purpose, or structure, they respond by pointing to the material abundance they enjoy. Who can argue with this? it is a fact that, in some instances, abundance, is one of the markers by which we may identify a blessing.

But it isn’t always so easy to discern. The Bible gives us warning clues that we do well not to ignore. Although this is a word of exhortation mainly with Christians in mind, I feel inclined to begin my list using non-Christians as secondary examples. In terms of material abundance, many people cannot even begin to compare with Oprah Winfrey. If any secular person of the world can be tempted to claim that they are blessed, surely it would be the world-famous daughter from Mississippi, none other than OG Winfrey.

No. OG here does not stand for Original Gangster. Through grit, determination, and hard work, Oprah (originally Orpah) Gail Winfrey rose from poverty to being called the Queen of Media. According to Wikipedia “she was the richest African-American of the 20th century; was once the world’s only black billionaire and the greatest black philanthropist in U.S. history. By 2007, she was sometimes ranked as the most influential woman in the world”. However you slice that cake, those are very impressive accomplishments.

But can this rightly be called a blessing? In other words, can her rise to international fame and fortune be put forth as proof that she is blessed by God? The answer is both, yes and no. The first clue is found in one of Oprah’s favorite statements where she asserts that she does not think of herself as being religious but being spiritual. The truth is that, like most people who use that expression, Oprah does not know the meaning of the word spiritual. Many like her, assume it has something to do with reading esoteric literature. In short, being spiritual has to do with the restoration of the image of God in the heart and mind of the redeemed. Only the spiritually lost can be redeemed. Has Oprah ever admitted to being lost in the Biblical sense of the word? There you go. Just as, not every blessing is a blessing. So too, not all light is light. Those who are awaiting the “externalization of the hierarchy”, need to note that Jesus is warning them to be careful that the “light” that is in them is not really darkness (Luke 11:35)

But, back to our yes and no answer. In order to unpack this answer, we will have to adjust the lens of our understanding to bring certain essential truths into focus. It is at this point that fools rush in where angels fear to tread. You see, the wise man knows that not all blessings are blessings. It is crucial that we understand this critical distinction.

What is the distinction? Some blessings are earth-realm blessings and some blessings are spiritual blessings rooted and grounded in the heavenly places. All earth-realm blessings fall under the category of what may be called common grace. I can think of at least two individuals in Biblical history, incidents which can be proven and attested to by their own country’s historical archives, who were recipients of God’s generic favor. The first one being Pharaoh, supreme ruler, and king of Egypt. As there is some controversy as to whether or not this was Pharaoh Rameses II, we will ignore the personality and simply deal with the facts of the case.

Pharaoh, the Pharaoh of the exodus, was king of Egypt in the days when kings were kings. He was at the head of the most powerful military force in the world. Egypt was a superpower. Maybe the only one. In terms of wealth, his material substance was enormous. The Israelites were bondmen in Egypt tasked with the responsibility of building the treasure cities of Pithom and Raamses. Treasure cities, mind you. Not friendly neighborhood banks. His wealth was so vast, that he needed to build cities in which to store his treasures.

Can it be argued that Pharaoh was blessed? Let us put it another way. Can it be argued that God granted the increase to Pharoah? Clearly, he did. But this is not readily apparent. Looking at Pharaoh’s wealth, power, and status at face value, there is nothing to indicate that this heathen king was the beneficiary of divine increase. It simply pleased the Lord to increase him. How do we know this? How can we be so sure that God intervened in the personal and political life of Pharaoh to make him rich and to make him great?

Well, first of all, let me adjust the perception of your mind’s eye just a bit. This should be common sense and common knowledge but, ever since sin entered into the world, man, who was originally created in the image of God, with knowledge and true holiness (See Lecture 010) lost the ability to know the mind of God and to think his thoughts after him. So, how do we know for sure that God increased Pharoah on every side? Simple. God is the Landlord of, what men call, the Universe. He owns all things, Everything flows from the storehouse of his abundance. He is the possessor of heaven and earth.

So God, for want of a better word, “blessed” Pharaoh. But seeing the Lord God does all things after the counsel of his own will, and seeing he does all things in wisdom towards a predetermined end, and seeing that nothing happens unless He decrees and ordains it (see Lectures 007 and 011), then there must have been a particular reason why he enlarged Pharaoh. And we are not left to guess. The Lord God very plainly states his reason in Exodus 9:16

God raised up Pharaoh and made him politically and militarily invincible in order to use him as a visual aid to demonstrate on a tangible level, the reality of the victory Christ will accomplish in the unseen spirit realm. To this day, the exodus from Egypt is one of the clearest examples and demonstrations of the awesome power of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

So we present the Pharaon of the exodus as Exhibit A in our opening arguments that material abundance is not a sure sign of being blessed. Earlier we answered the question as to whether or not material success is a sure sign of being blessed of God by saying that the answer was both yes and no. As we said, there are two types of blessing. One type of blessing, based on common grace, can be experienced even though God has determined to destroy you. Common grace is a form of goodness received from God that is within the reach of every member of creation, whether man, woman, child, plant, or animal. This category of blessing is based on the covenant God made with Noah on behalf of all creation, or “every living thing” (Genesis 8:21-22). This was the kind of blessing that Pharaoh experienced. Jesus spoke of this kind of “blessing” as being available to all men regardless of their moral status. This is why we many times see wicked people prospering in life. Let us see what the Lord has to say about this kind of blessing:

Do you see the dilemma? It appears that God will allow some to “have their best life now” knowing that what awaits them after they have drawn their last breath is unimaginable torment and agony (Luke 16:20-25). And to add insult to injury, their wealth and success will be used as a witness against them.

Not that God is against anyone being rich. He is simply against making riches your god. He frowns upon the notion of the self-made man or woman. God showed kindness to Pharaoh in a material sense even though he was an evil king. Pharaoh attributed all of his riches and power to the might of his own hands. In his pride and his self-congratulatory posture, he had no idea that he was being used as a primary puppet on the world stage. He had no idea that all kingdoms belong to God.

We ignore this truth to our own detriment. God “blessed” Pharaoh and made him great, only so that he may engineer his downfall. Of course, trolls will have a field day with this concept, accusing the Lord of being despotic, arbitrary, and tyrannical. They have the right to remain silent. In the enormity of their cluelessness, they are missing the point. Regardless of what our self-esteem tells us, we are God’s property. He can do with us as he very well pleases. But, be that as it may, all of his works are done in truth. God always acts in accordance with his moral perfection and with his covenant people in mind; those who are the called according to his purpose. God is holy and righteous by nature and always acts in accordance with his nature. He cannot deny himself.

So, to those who claim that God was not being “fair” to Pharaoh, bear this in mind, Pharaoh was a criminal. Just as there are criminal elements holding high political office in several countries in our day. He was a despotic ruler, who, for his own materialistic ends, subjugated the people of God to cruel bondage and hard labor. He felt he had the right to do so because what was important to him were his treasure cities. And, seeing he considered himself to be a god, why should he recognize the claims of this so-called Lord God of Israel. After all, who has the upper hand here? I imagine Pharaoh saying, ” How can this Lord be the true God and all of his people are in captivity to me? I must be the greater god. No, I will not let them go.”

So, let us look at this scenario for what it is. This is not a tyrannical Jehovah as some would like to claim. This is the Holy One of Israel, acting forcefully on behalf of his people who cried out to him for deliverance from bondage. So, to every troll and critic, I ask, “What would you do if some madman was holding your children hostage?” Moreover, the one holding them in captivity considers himself to be a god and a more powerful one at that. So the Lord God of heaven and earth, acted decisively to “cut Rahab and wound the dragon” (Psalm 51:9)

The unenlightened assume that there is such a thing as a self-made man or woman. The proud find it hard to believe that they will have to give the glory and credit to God for their achievements. A heart filled with pride coupled with a darkened mind is not a healthy mix. “If I had not gone out there and worked,” they say, “none of this would have happened.” Though this may be a very plausible argument, it is still only half true. There are factors and variables involved that the Western mindset is unable to grasp. This is the disadvantage of being educated into a social order whose only reality is defined in terms of the information available to the five senses. Yes, you worked. Maybe you worked hard. But God positioned you in the right place at the right time. Here is what the book of Ecclesiastes says:

Please consider that there were those who may have worked harder and more diligently than you did but still did not “get the nod” so to speak. But the point we are making is that your abundance of material, social or political success is, in and of itself, no proof that you are blessed of God, remembering, of course, that there are two types of blessing. The other example is that of “a certain rich man” whose gooound “brought forth plentifully” (Luke 15-21). Was he blessed of God? With the ability to accumulate wealth, yes. His store was so abundant that he saw the need to build even bigger barns to put all his fruits and his goods. Yet, God called him a “fool” (v20) because clearly he thought that it was all about him.

And, last but not least, we have the example of Nebuchadnezzar, who was driven from amongst men to dwell with the beasts of the field and made to eat grass for seven years. His sin was that he boasted of his accomplishments. This is recorded in Daniel chapter 4 where he said to himself, “…Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” Isn’t this precisely what the average millionaire or billionaire says to himself? God may seem to have changed the outward form of his judgment, but all he has done is to delay execution. For if he did not, there would be no millionaires, billionaires, or trillion-dollar corporate giants left, to provide jobs for his people, and, by extension “the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

We will do well to take note of the fact that Nebuchadnezzar’s judgment did not have destruction as its goal. God needed to make a point. Nebuchadnezzar, along with all of the contemporary Nebuchadnezzars of our day, needed to know that the accumulation of wealth and power was not purely “by the might of his power and the honor of his majesty” (see v 30). He needed to understand “that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will” (v32). So whether it be political power, monarchies, republics, Reichs, Caliphates, kingdoms, or multinational mega-corporations, God rules in the kingdom of men. And he may have increased you only temporarily as he moves towards the establishment of his purpose in the earth.

When a building is being constructed there is usually some form of scaffolding; some sort of framework to help with the putting up of the structure. This is where the fear of God comes in. Let us all, rich and poor, small and great, cry out to God not to be used simply as scaffolding. Because, in the final analysis, scaffolding is discarded and only the building remains; the very habitation of God (Eph 2:21-22)

One final thought. The world, the flesh, and the devil have manipulated many nations in the International Community into adopting an egalitarian mindset. We see many women vying for jobs in leadership positions. Personally, I do not believe that women should be military leaders and many in the military would openly agree with me were it not for the fear of being ostracized. In fact, many women agree that critical leadership roles should be set aside for men only. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and men need to understand that, in the military, if your commanding officer is a woman, you need to follow her orders without hesitation. But that’s another teaching.

That line of reasoning, however, is not transferable to the kingdom of God. God has a specific structure and order from which he will not deviate. Please feel free to argue the point with him if you choose, but he will not relent. In reality, there is no such thing as a woman pastor. You may disagree with me but all of your arguments will have to be based on a political party mindset. You may be inclined to adopt a defense of your pastor, but nothing you say can be based on the word of God. This is not an attack on women, nor is it an assault on the integrity of the good intentions of women in leadership. But the road to hell, as they say, is paved with good intentions. Your good intentions and my good intentions are irrelevant. We must seek to know the mind and will of God. Many times female pastors point to the fact that they have been “blessed” with a sizeable congregation, and they say that if God was not pleased they would not be as successful as they, apparently, are. They argue that in light of this, they must be blessed.

I encourage us all to tread lightly at this point. A hall with a huge congregation is no indicator of being blessed. Please remember that Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. One of them, Ishmael, was as a result of fleshly effort. He was the son of Sarah’s handmaid. There are people who are natural-born organizers who can work a room and fill up a hall. That, by itself, means little or nothing. In terms of abundance, the Lord God says of Ishmael, “I will make him a great nation” (Gen 21:18). “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman”. (Galatians 4:30).

In other words, although Ismael was blessed of God with abundance, yet his was not the same type of blessing as Isaac’s was. To sum it up, although Ismael was blessed of God, only Isaac had his approval. Ishmael’s blessing was along the lines of common grace. Isaac’s blessing was based on divine promise. His blessing translated into and affected his relationship with, the heavenly places. The true child of God is blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:3). This is something we cannot claim if we are walking in direct ego-centric disobedience to the word of God. So, being a woman pastor with a large congregation is no sign that you are in the will of God.

A congregation is supposed to be a local expression of the Body of Christ. If the mystical Body of Christ is headed up by the man Christ Jesus, the local expression of that Body cannot be beheaded up by a woman. We all need to build according to the pattern, lest we hear Christ say, “I never knew you” because we were not doing “the will of the Father” (Matthew 7:21-23).

I trust that this study has been a blessing to you. How can you tell? It would have brought about changes in your life with evidence of being transformed, even in little ways, to the image of Christ. God bless.