A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor meet together; the LORD is the Maker of them all. The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life. (Proverbs 22:1-4 ESV).
The rewards promised in Proverbs 22:4 are fleshed out in verses 1-3. Avoiding pride is not enough. We need to lean away from it and become humble. God makes both the rich and the poor, (v. 2). In this context, “rich” does not refer to having an extravagant life. Having riches, or wealth, means that when we are doing God’s work—that is, living God’s way—we can count on receiving everything we truly need to keep going. And wealth isn’t the most important reward. Honor, a good name, is more desirable than great riches (v. 1). By humbly following God, we gain the respect of other good people, and we probably gain some respect from some not-so-great people also.
The most reliable reward of humbly following God is life itself. When we are humble enough to rely on God’s direction, it is amazing how many pitfalls we avoid. We avoid the problems that pride falsely says we can handle ourselves.
When we are humble, we are amazed how often God helps us steer clear of trouble that we didn’t even see coming. When we are humble and we see or hear of someone’s folly leading to ruin, we learn to say, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” That’s because, as verse 3 notes, the unwise keep going right into trouble; they don’t have God to guide them.
There really is no greater characteristic for us to develop than that of humility. It is from that position and practice that we can find true wealth and power. Our current culture doesn’t see that truth much of the time; however, this is the truth of Jesus so often modeled and taught. Seek to be more and more like Him!