23 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Consider carefully [a]what is before you,
2 And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man of great appetite.
3 Do not desire his delicacies,
For it is deceptive food.4 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
Cease from your [b]consideration of it.
5 [c]When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.6 Do not eat the bread of [d]a selfish man,
Or desire his delicacies;
7 For as he [e]thinks within himself, so he is.
He says to you, “Eat and drink!”
But his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit up [f]the morsel you have eaten,
And waste your [g]compliments.
Oh boy, more politics! Solomon tells us that if someone in authority invites you to dinner, and they aren’t already your friend, watch out! Even more so if you loooove food, your appetite may trap you into doing something you never wanted to do. One might think, “Hey, they’ve got it figured out, and if I hang out with them, I’ll be on my way up in no time.”
While there is certainly value in building relationships to gain wisdom and knowledge, this isn’t that story. Check your own motives, as Solomon notes, “Do not weary yourself to gain wealth…” He tells us not to even think of money, which might be over the top, but here’s the point. When money is our focus, it vanishes all too easily.
Much like dinner with the politician, we think we’re gaining something out of a good meal, and then we’re in the trap and the dinner is all but forgotten. If you focus on the money instead of your real goals, and following God’s plan, you’ll never have enough. Look at the mega-rich in our society, do they have enough? They continue to strive, and there are one of two results.
Either they keep working and striving because they love their work (which is great), or they are consumed by the wealth and power and they can’t get enough. We can’t know other people’s motives, but we CAN check our own. What are you striving for? What is your goal? Or better yet, Who is your goal?
Do you work and strive because it is what God has called you to do? Or is it from selfish ambition (v. 6). Be careful of the latter, for you will consume in excess. And even if you don’t literally vomit, you’ll make yourself sick, body, heart and/or mind. Instead, run the race God has set before you, and you will have strength for the journey, peace along the way, and always enough as He provides what you need. He is enough, always.