Don’t Let Your Want Exceed Your Wallet

 

Don’t Let Your Want Exceed Your Wallet

Desire was never the problem. God created humans with desire. The Hebrew word cheshek means desire, longing, delight, used in both holy and destructive ways. In Deuteronomy 7:7, God says He set His cheshek on Israel not because they were numerous, but because of love. So, desire can be sacred when aligned with God's heart. But when that desire becomes detached from the fear of the Lord, it turns into taavah, the consuming craving that we see burn through the wilderness generation.

In Exodus 16, Israel complains for food. In Numbers 11, it escalates. The mixed multitude among them began to lust exceedingly. The Hebrew word there is hit’avu ta’avah, they “craved a craving.” It’s a doubling, intensifying verb. This wasn’t hunger. It was obsession. They remembered the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks of Egypt, forgetting that all of those came with shackles and the whip. Slavery had become more tolerable in their minds than discipline in the wilderness. And when Moses cried to God about this, the LORD’s anger was kindled greatly. He gave them meat, but also sent a plague. They named the place Kivrot-HaTaavah, the graves of craving.

You can want something so badly that it buries you.

This isn’t about budgeting, coupon-cutting, or being frugal. It’s about the posture of the heart. It’s about what happens when your inner desires are louder than the Word of God. When the craving commands more than the Creator.

In the Ten Commandments, we’re told lo tachmod, you shall not covet. That word tachmod is from chamad, again, desire, but specifically, the kind of desire that eyes what isn’t yours, then schemes a way to take it. This isn’t just about possessions, it’s about posture. This command isn’t a rule, it’s a rescue. It’s God fencing you in from the wolves of discontent.

Coveting is internal theft. It steals your peace before you ever take someone’s goods.

Solomon, the wealthiest king of Israel, wrote in Ecclesiastes 5:10, “Whoever loves silver will not be satisfied with silver.” The Hebrew root for satisfied is sava, to be full, to be saturated. He’s saying: silver won’t soak the soul. The more you feed greed, the more it starves you. The more you pour in, the more it drains out.

In the New Testament, Jesus doesn’t soften this truth. In Luke 12, a man asks Jesus to intervene in an inheritance dispute. Jesus replies not with mediation, but with a warning: “Watch and guard yourselves from every form of greed, for one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.” The Greek word for greed, pleonexia, comes from pleon (more) and echo (to have), literally, “the having of more.” It’s never enough. And Jesus calls this man out because his request seems reasonable, but the heart behind it is what matters. Even something justifiable can be poisoned if it’s coming from want, not trust.

Jesus continues with a parable of a rich man whose land produced plentifully. He had so much, he tore down his barns to build bigger ones. He said to himself, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The Greek word used here for fool is aphron, without reason, senseless. Not because he had wealth, but because he misjudged the purpose of it. He let the surplus define his security, instead of the Spirit.

Paul, writing to young Timothy, echoes this danger. “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” The Greek word for “plunge” is buthizo, to sink, to drown. It’s the same word used for ships going down at sea. So want, when ungoverned by contentment, isn’t just distracting, it’s drowning.

He follows with that often-misquoted line: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Not money, the love of it. Philargyria, in Greek. It means the affection, the fondness, the clinging to it like it's life itself. He says that some have strayed from the faith because of this lust, piercing themselves with many griefs. The verb “pierced” is periepeiran, meaning to impale, to run through. Greed is self-sabotage with a smile on its face.

Let’s go deeper, into Proverbs. “There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; one who makes himself poor, yet has great wealth.” (Proverbs 13:7). It’s a paradox unless you understand it spiritually. Wealth isn’t what’s in the hand, it’s what’s in the heart. If you have peace, joy, purpose, and a soul content in God, you are rich in a way no currency can measure.

Proverbs 30:8-9 holds a rarely quoted prayer: “Give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny You and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” The Hebrew for “needful” is chuk, meaning an appointed portion, an allotment, just enough. It’s the same concept as manna, daily bread, no hoarding. Just trust.

This prayer is radical. It asks for balance. Most prayers ask for increase. This one asks for just enough. It knows that both extremes, too much or too little, can distort the view of God. When your want exceeds your wallet, your heart becomes vulnerable to compromise.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Not “monthly paycheck.” Not “five-year plan.” Daily. The Greek is arton epiousion, bread for today and bread for what is to come. Physical and spiritual. Just like manna. Just like trust.

Even the disciples struggled with these lessons. Judas Iscariot kept the money bag, but more than that, he kept a thirst that never went away. John 12:6 reveals he used to steal from the purse. His want exceeded his calling. Thirty silver coins later, he had what he wanted, and lost everything that mattered.

Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 did the same. They sold property, claimed to give it all, but secretly held some back. Not because they weren’t allowed to keep it, but because they wanted the praise of generosity without the sacrifice. Their desire for reputation exceeded their wallet, and cost them their lives.

Jesus warned, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon isn’t just wealth, it’s wealth personified as a master. A competing god. The Aramaic term mamona implies confidence placed in riches instead of the living God. When your want grows beyond what your trust in God can hold, you don’t just overspend, you begin worshiping at the altar of lack.

So what’s the way out?

Go back to the wilderness. Go back to the manna. Every morning, early, the dew lifted, and there it was, provision from heaven. But if you tried to collect extra, it rotted. Except on the sixth day, where it supernaturally doubled and endured. God was teaching discipline, dependence, and rhythm. He was shaping His people not just to have enough, but to be enough in Him.

Paul says in Philippians 4:11–12, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” That word, again, is autarkeia, to have all you need within. Not because Paul was self-made, but because he was Christ-filled. He continues, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Not about lifting weights or winning games, it’s about bearing lack and bearing plenty without letting either one break your spirit.

Contentment isn’t a personality trait, it’s a spiritual revelation. It comes when you understand that if God gave you His Son, He will not withhold any good thing. Romans 8:32 says this plainly: “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” The Greek word charizomai, freely give, is the language of grace, not greed. God gives out of love, not because we whine loud enough or crave hard enough.

So if your want is exceeding your wallet, stop. Don’t budget harder. Worship deeper. Ask yourself: What am I really trying to fill? What hole in my soul is this purchase trying to patch? What ache in my identity is driving this hunger?

Because the truth is, no thing will fix you. No item will complete you. No amount will satisfy you if the well in your soul is dry.

Only God fills.

Only God satisfies.

Only God is enough.

So let your want decrease until it matches your trust. Let your wallet become a tool, not a trophy. Let your craving be reshaped into calling. And if you're going to be rich, be rich in mercy. Be rich in grace. Be rich in faith. Be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for yourself a good foundation for the coming age, so you may take hold of what is truly life.

That’s the real abundance. That’s the only balance sheet that will matter when you stand before The King.

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