 | Isaiah 66:2 "For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word."
You can be too rich for God, but you can never be too poor. You can be too good, too wealthy, or too self-satisfied for God, but you can never be too poor-and this poverty goes beyond finances.
No man has ever been wiser, and perhaps wealthier, than Solomon. He had a great desire to build God's temple, but even he understood that the house that he built could not contain the God of Heaven! Solomon's wealth even impressed other monarchs (the Queen of Sheba), but his riches were no match for the infinite riches of God Almighty.
The rich young ruler was too rich for God. The Bible says that he went away grieved, even after seeing God in the flesh, because he had great possessions.
The church of Laodicea in Revelation 3 said, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing," yet they didn't know that they were "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." They were so self-satisfied that they never saw their need of the God who could help them.
The rest of Isaiah 66 describes our emptiness, shallowness, and inability when we try to please God with what we do when our heart is not in it. In fact, the Bible almost comes full circle from Isaiah 1 in which God's people were doing good things, but He calls their works "vain oblations," "abomination," "iniquity," and "trouble." (1:13-14) Truthfully, this kind of scares me, and here is why: It is possible to do the best things I can possibly do, and yet have these good things actually register with God in a negative way!
Yes, you can be too rich for God but never too poor for God. Jesus said in Matthew 5, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Rich is more than a financial thing. It is not wrong to be rich financially, but the danger in becoming rich financially is that you become rich (satisfied) in spirit. And that is a bad place to be.
Being "poor in spirit" does not mean that you have no drive, no passion, or no worth; it means that your drive, passion, and worth are guided by an understanding that God is the One who must give you what you need. There is a confidence that comes from humility, and that is different than confidence in my personality or my ability to do things or impress people. Confidence from humility accomplishes things, not based on self, but based on God's wealth. As you go throughout your day, don't forget that you can never be too poor for God.
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