Soul vs. Substance

I have read through the book of Proverbs many times over the years, but this verse never stood out to me until I came across it the other day, and something stood out that I had never thought about before.

“The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but He casteth away the substance of the wicked.” Proverbs 10:3

There is a contrast between the righteous and the wicked, and how the Lord deals with them. This is not at all unique or unusual in the book of Proverbs, or in the rest of the Bible, for that matter. But what stood out to me is the Holy Sprit’s choice of words here: the soul of the righteous is the focus of the first statement, while the substance of the wicked is what is being acted upon in the second.
I think this is significant, because it highlights what the righteous (those right with God) and the wicked actually possess.

If you have trusted Christ for salvation, depending on His sacrifice alone to purchase your redemption, what do you have? Your soul has been rescued, redeemed, restored to fellowship with God and the certain promise of eternal life with Him.

But the wicked? What do they have? Apart from God, there is nothing more than this earthly life to possess. The focus of those who are not right with God through salvation is their substance, or earthly possessions.

Jesus addressed this in Matthew 16:26:

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

You see, what matters most to the righteous is the state of their soul, while what matters to the wicked is their substance. With this in mind, read the verse again:

“The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but He casteth away the substance of the wicked.”

Ultimately, the accumulated earthly goods of the saved in Christ are worthless, because they cannot follow us to heaven. Likewise, the earthly things for which the wicked work or scheme will have no value to them when they find themselves in eternal death, separated from God forever in a place of torments. (Luke 16, Revelation 20:15)

But notice what it says about the soul of the righteous. The precious promise of this verse is that those right with God will never be allowed to famish, or be hungry. We have “food” for our souls available at any time, in any place through the direct access to God the Father bought by the blood of Christ, and through the Holy Spirit, who makes the Word of God come alive to us each time we read it.

Dear Reader, does your soul feel famished today? If you are among the righteous, those who have chosen to trust Christ alone for salvation, that famished feeling is not God’s fault. He has already promised never to leave your soul hungry. Go to Him with the hunger, and partake of the spiritual food He supplies through His Word and prayer.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:6