God’s Tent can be better than the world’s Palace!

Probing Proverbs 14:11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the godly will flourish.

When I was growing up, it seemed that to become a millionaire was an incredible accomplishment. Even back then I remember hearing and later reading about individuals that made it to that level of financial success, yet were miserable with life. Today, it seems millionaires are a dime a dozen and now we have so many billionaires they are hard to count! Still…the level of enjoying more of life than just materials things continues to be elusive. 

Just in the news right now is the story of a man that owned an Island, and private jet…had everything of material value…yet proved to be very emotionally disturbed and did not consider young girls to have the same rights as he did. All his wealth could not bring him a real satisfaction of life and when the “house” he had built began to fall, even life eluded him. God takes no pleasure in the death of anyone that is not safe in His arms and a possessor of eternal life…not even the wicked. (Ezek 33:11)  This Proverb places the emphasis of having a life that flourishes on quality, not quantity!

What strikes me is the comparison of the words “house” versus “tent”. A house would always seem stronger, more comfortable and safer to be in. A tent can be blown away by a strong wind. Yet it is the house that is destroyed and the tent that flourishes! Those that walk close with God, though living in a tent will see a better life than those that choose to live their own way…even their house will be destroyed.

Another story found in Matthew comes to the same conclusion, though in this case it is about two houses with different foundations.

Matthew 7:24–27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

The man that lives close to God, his house stands despite the storms that life bring. The house of the man that ignored God’s teachings saw complete destruction of what he had built.

I do not know about you, but I have built on both foundations in my life. Those times where I struggled listening to God never led to any goodness or quality in my life, the times I have sought Him and His ways, have always brought a deep joy and peace in my life. My hope is that I have endeavored to build most of my life on rock, and especially the rest of my life!

The So What: How much do you see God’s standards and His word impacting your life? Do you take time to evaluate how you are building your life? How effected are you by the world’s standard of what success is? Whose opinion matters the most to you?