Better than winning the lottery

Mar 11, 2026

Isaac’s Wealth

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When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, because the Lord blessed him. The man became wealthy. His influence continued to grow until he became very prominent.

Genesis 26:13-13 (NET)

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A lot of people try to demonize money.

Some of it comes from a mishearing (or misunderstanding) of the verse “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

Of course that clearly shows the problem with making money into an idol.

Nothing, including money, should supersede God in our hearts.

In reality, it can’t supersede God -- He is the King over all.

But we can idolize things in our hearts, that is, love them more than we love God.

Now, that’s all a side tangent because that is not what we see happening in this verse. In fact, what we do see is that God gives an incredible blessing to Isaac:

A hundred time return on his investment.

I’m not exactly sure what normal farming numbers would be, but even a 10x return would probably be seen as fantastic. Or how about a 30x or 50x return?

Phenomenal.

But when I see a 100x return, I can think that only God pulls that off.

No, Isaac didn’t “get lucky,” he was blessed by God.

He didn’t squander those blessings either. He obviously made sound business dealings and became a prominent person in his society.

Which challenges me:

How many blessings from God am I receiving? (big or small, a blessing is a blessing)

Am I using those blessings wisely -- or am I squandering them?

Tough questions to ask myself this morning.

— Ricky Ketchum

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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