Episode 407: I’m Talkin…Prosperity

I’m Talkin’, episode 407 for February 1st, 2026.

This is Joel from the I’m Talkin’ microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week, we’re talking prosperity.

So the definition that I found for prosperity is the condition of being successful.

And I think that’s concise, and I think that hits the nail on the head, as it were.

And I think in our world that many people are chasing that condition, the condition of being successful.

It may look different to different people, but oftentimes it looks like financial success or positional success.

And therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

Today’s word comes from Proverbs 21, verse 5, that says, Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

This is a challenging verse because it sounds like it is up to us.

It sounds like if we are good at planning, if we put a lot of work into whatever it is that we’re planning, then we will be prosperous.

And I think that’s not necessarily what it means, and this isn’t really a prosperity gospel.

And so as with all Bible verses, we need to make sure that we are taking things in the proper context.

Let me read a few verses surrounding the Proverbs 21, 5 verse.

So the chapter starts out with, The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord.

He guides it wherever he pleases.

People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines the heart.

The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices.

Then he goes down and says, Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin.

And then he goes to five, Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

So you see surrounding those verses or leading up to that verse, it’s talking about God making a king’s heart go whatever way he wants it to as you would guide water.

It talks about how God looks at the people who he calls his own.

And so when we look at that verse, we see prosperity in a different definition.

We see it in the eyes of how God would like us to go.

And we see prosperity when we plan as God wants us to plan, when we work hard towards the plan that God is in charge of.

But when we try to take hasty shortcuts and get to God’s plan in a different method, then we are going to fail.

And in this verse, he calls it poverty.

Sometimes that works in the real world.

I mean, we live in the real world and sometimes prosperity is given to us through God’s plan because of our following it, our hard work.

And sometimes the hasty shortcuts leads to financial ruin.

So it can apply to those environments as well.

But what we have to remember is that good planning and hard work, those are things that God has put before us.

And if we do that well, following God’s word, then he will provide prosperity.

May not look like the world wants it to look, but we will know it when we see it.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.