Day 1: The False Security Blanket

Ecclesiastes 5:8 If you see oppression of the poor and perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, don’t be astonished at the situation, because one official protects another official, and higher officials protect them.

Do you ever just check your bank account balance? You don’t need to buy something. But those numbers make you feel safe. You feel like maybe if there’s enough in there, you can finally relax.

Let me remind you of what you already know: that number can’t protect you from what you’re really afraid of. It can’t stop the diagnosis or prevent the betrayal or guarantee your kids will be okay. 

Wealth promises to be your bodyguard. But, it’s really just a piece of paper pretending to be armor.

We live in a world, Solomon shows, where wealth actually creates more vulnerability. He shows how those with the most money often cause the injustices you’re trying to protect yourself from. At the end of the day, your wealth can’t protect you from injustice.

The human heart wants protection and will look for it anywhere. We’re constantly scanning for danger and we’re constantly building walls. 

What walls are you building? And who are you keeping out?

Here’s the Gospel truth we need to hear: Your real security can’t come from your savings account. The God who owns cattle on a thousand hills doesn’t need your portfolio to keep you safe. He’s already revealed His protection plan– it involved a cross, an empty tomb, and a promise that nothing can snatch you from His hand.

What would change if you believed that today? What would you do differently if you really trusted that your Father’s protection is better than your financial planning?

Prayer: Lord, I’ve been trying to build a fortress for myself out of dollars and cents. Forgive me for trusting in that. Let me see that you are my safety and let me rest in Your protection today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Day 2: The Hunger That Never Stops

Ecclesiastes 5:10 The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile.

A lot of us have a number in our head that we believe, if we hit it, will give us a feeling of true satisfaction. Call it the “then I could finally relax” number.

The problem is that it’s a moving target. If you reach it, if you finally make that much or save that much, you don’t feel satisfied. Instead, you set a new number, a higher number.

Welcome to the treadmill that never stops. It’s the finish line that keeps moving, the hunger that eating only makes worse. 

King Solomon says, “The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile.” He’s not talking about having money; he’s talking about loving it. 

There’s a difference between holding wealth and wealth holding you. 

And you can tell which one it is by how you feel when you think about losing it. Does your stomach drop? Does panic rise in your throat? Does that sound to you like satisfaction?

Don’t believe the lie that whispers that satisfaction is just one purchase away. Or one more zero. Or one more investment. Or one more raise. But here’s what wealth never tells you: it’s not designed to satisfy. It’s like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom– no matter how fast you pour, it’s never enough.

You know what’s exhausting? Chasing wind. You know what’s maddening? Drinking salt water when you’re thirsty. Yet here we are, on the hamster wheel again, trying to find satisfaction in wealth.

But the Gospel offers a different kind of economics. Jesus says He’s the bread that actually fills, the water that actually quenches, and the treasure that actually lasts. He doesn’t offer you more; He offers you enough. And enough, when it comes from Him, is abundance.

Today, what if you stopped trying to fill your soul with things that don’t fit? What if you brought your real hunger to the only One who can satisfy it?

Prayer: Father, I’m tired of chasing what never satisfies. I’m exhausted from this endless pursuit of more. Fill me with Yourself today. You are the living bread, the living water, the treasure my heart actually needs. Thank You that in Christ, I already have everything I need. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Day 3: When God Becomes The Gift

Ecclesiastes 5:19 Furthermore, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God.

Sometimes we treat wealth like it’s the source when it’s actually just the stream. We’re prone to worship the gift instead of the Giver. And that’s why that promotion felt empty three days later. That’s why the new car already feels ordinary. That’s why you’re still not happy.

Solomon drops a truth bomb here that rearranges everything: enjoyment itself is a gift from God. Not the money; the ability to enjoy it. You can’t manufacture contentment. You can’t purchase peace. Two people can have identical bank accounts, and one sings while the other sulks. The difference isn’t the dollars; it’s the disposition. And that disposition? That’s grace.

Think about it: How many miserable millionaires do you know? How many anxious achievers? They’ve got everything except the one thing that matters– the ability to actually enjoy what they have. They’re sitting at a feast, dying of hunger, because they don’t know the Host.

Here’s what changes everything: When you see your possessions as provisions from your Father, not products of your performance, you can actually enjoy them. When you recognize the Giver behind every gift, even small blessings become reasons for worship. 

The world says happiness comes from having more. But God says it comes from knowing where what you have comes from. Every good and perfect gift flows from His hands. Your wealth? His gift. Your ability to work? His gift. The capacity to enjoy any of it? That’s His gift too.

Today, stop trying to squeeze joy out of your possessions. Instead, receive them as love letters from a Father who delights in delighting His children.

Prayer: Generous Father, forgive me for trying to find my happiness in Your gifts instead of in You. Thank You for every good thing in my life. Help me to see Your fingerprints on every blessing today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Day 4: The Better Treasure

John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

All week you’ve, hopefully, been confronting the lies wealth tells. Today, let’s talk about the truth that exposes them all. Wealth promises protection, satisfaction, and happiness. But it’s making promises only Jesus can keep.

You want real protection? Jesus doesn’t offer you a bigger wall– He offers you His own hands. Hands that were pierced for you. Hands that hold you when everything else lets go. The market can crash, the diagnosis can come, the job can disappear, but nothing can snatch you from those hands.

You want real satisfaction? Jesus doesn’t give you more to chase– He gives you Himself to rest in. He’s the bread that fills the hunger money never could touch. The water that quenches the thirst success never could reach. When you have Him, you finally have enough, because He is everything.

You want real happiness? Jesus doesn’t promise you circumstances that make you smile. He promises you joy that circumstances can’t steal. Joy that runs deeper than your bank balance. Joy that survives when everything else dies.

Here’s the Gospel that changes everything: Jesus left the riches of heaven to become poor, so that through His poverty you could become rich. But not rich in the way the world counts it. Rich in grace. Rich in hope. Rich in love that never runs out.

The cross is about forgiveness of your sins, but that’s not all. It’s also about freeing you from every false savior you’ve been trusting. Including the one in your wallet.

So today, what if you stopped asking wealth to do what Jesus alone can do? What if you stopped expecting your net worth to determine your self-worth? What if Jesus was the true treasure of your heart?

Prayer: Lord, You are my treasure. Thank You that Jesus became poor to make me rich in what matters. Help me to seek Your kingdom first today and to trust You for everything else. You are my protection, my satisfaction, my joy. You are enough. In the precious name of Jesus, amen.

Day 5: Naked As You Came

Ecclesiastes 5:15 As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands.

You’ve seen it– that moment when someone realizes they can’t take it with them. Maybe it was in a hospital room, watching someone grip possessions they’ll soon leave behind. Or at an estate sale, seeing a lifetime of accumulation spread across folding tables with price tags. Everything that person worked for, worried over, protected, reduced to a Saturday morning sale.

Solomon’s words sting because they’re so obviously true. You entered this world with nothing, and that’s exactly how you’ll leave. Your portfolio won’t follow you. Your property deed gets passed on. Even the clothes on your back stay behind.

So why do we live like we can pack for eternity? Why do we spend decades accumulating what we’ll hold for moments? It’s the ultimate exercise in futility, like trying to catch the wind in a jar.

But wait. Solomon says you take nothing “for his efforts that he can carry in his hands.” What if the problem isn’t that we can’t take anything with us, but that we’re trying to carry the wrong things?

Jesus flips this entire equation. He says store up treasures in heaven, invest in what’s eternal. Every act of love, moment of worship, and sacrifice for the Gospel– these create a wealth that transcends death. You can’t take your money with you, but you can send it ahead through generosity. You can’t pack your possessions, but you can invest in people who will share eternity with you.

The question isn’t “How much can I accumulate before I die?” It’s “What am I sending ahead while I live?”

Prayer: Lord, I came into this world empty-handed and I know I’ll leave the same way. Help me to hold loosely what I cannot keep and help me invest in what I can’t lose. Teach me to live with eternity in view. Thank You that in Christ, my real wealth is already secure. In His name, amen.

Day 6: Eating In Darkness

Ecclesiastes 5:17 What is more, he eats in darkness all his days, with much frustration, sickness, and anger.

King Solomon paints a sad picture for us: a man sitting at a feast, but the room is pitch black. He can’t see what he’s eating, can’t enjoy the presentation, can’t share the experience with others. He’s just mechanically consuming in the dark, frustrated, sick, angry. That’s Solomon’s portrait of the wealth-obsessed life.

You eat in darkness when every meal is rushed because you’re thinking about the next deal. When family dinners become strategy sessions. When you can’t taste your food because you’re calculating its cost. The lights might be on, but you’re not really present. You’re living in the shadows of anxiety and anger.

How did you get here? When did the pursuit of more steal your ability to enjoy now? When did accumulation become more important than appreciation?

The frustration Solomon describes is specific– it’s the frustration of never arriving. The sickness is the stress that eats your body from the inside out. The anger is what bubbles up when you realize you’ve been running a race that has no finish line.

But God invites you into the light. To eat with thanksgiving. To see your daily bread as daily grace. To share your table with joy instead of suspicion. When you know the Giver, every meal becomes worship.

What would it look like to flip the switch today? To eat in the light of God’s presence instead of the darkness of greed? To taste your food instead of just consuming it? To see the faces around your table instead of the figures in your spreadsheet?

Stop eating in darkness. Come into the light where you can finally see what you have.

Prayer: Father, help me. I want to enjoy Your gifts in the way You want me to. Bring me into the light of contentment. Help me to taste and see that You are good. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Day 7: Where Your Treasure Is

Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus doesn’t say where your heart is, your treasure will follow. He says it the other way around. Your treasure leads; your heart follows. Want to know what you really love? Look at your bank statement. Check your calendar. Your resources reveal your religion.

This is why Jesus talks about money more than prayer, more than faith, more than heaven and hell combined. Not because He needs your money; He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. But because He knows that your money owns you. Where you invest determines what you worship.

Think about how this works: You buy a house, and suddenly you care about property values. You invest in a company, and you start checking its stock price. You put your treasure somewhere, and your heart gets dragged along behind it. This is why the wealthy young ruler couldn’t follow Jesus– his heart was buried in his possessions.

But flip this around and it becomes incredibly powerful. Start investing in the Kingdom, and watch your heart follow. Support a missionary, and suddenly you’re praying for a country you’ve never visited. Give to the poor, and your heart softens toward those in need. Invest in eternal things, and your affections shift from temporary to lasting.

This isn’t about guilt or obligation. It’s about strategic heart transformation. You can actually redirect your heart by redirecting your treasure. You can cultivate love for God’s Kingdom by investing in God’s Kingdom.

Where is your treasure today? More importantly, where do you want your heart to be? Because one will always follow the other. You’re either storing up treasures that will pull your heart toward earth, or you’re investing in heaven and watching your heart soar upward.

The choice you make with your wallet is the choice you make with your worship.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I want my heart to be Yours. So, help me to put my wealth on things that are eternal. Give me opportunities to invest in Your Kingdom. Let me worship You with everything. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.