“A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.” – Job 20:28

In 1988, William “Buddy” Post of Oil City, Pennsylvania, won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania Lottery. The jackpot was to be paid to Buddy over a period of twenty-five years. Even before the first check arrived, Post’s landlady sued, claiming she owned part of the winning ticket. The courts awarded her one-third of the proceeds. Meanwhile, Post and various relatives opened a bar, a used-car lot and other businesses, using the promise of lottery proceeds to come as capital. All the businesses failed. In 1993, his brother was convicted of attempting to kill Buddy and his wife in hopes of inheriting the lottery money. Post’s sixth wife left him and filed for divorce, and Buddy was ordered to pay her $40,000 a year in support. In 1996, after falling $500,000 in debt, he filed for bankruptcy. “Money didn’t change me,” insists Post, a 58-year-old former carnival worker and cook. “It changed people around me that I knew, that I thought cared a little bit about me. But they only cared about the money.” “I’m just going to stay at home and mind my p’s and q’s,” he said. “Money draws flies.”

There is no trust in money, it is fleeting and it does not bring us security. But trust in Christ brings eternal peace and security. Where is your trust? Today in prayer, thank the Lord that your trust is in Him and seek to do His will.

“Nothing that is God’s can be obtained with money.” – Tertullian

God’s Word: “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” – Proverbs 23:5

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2002, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN JOB pkennedy@devotional.com