Does Money Solve Every Problem?

“Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything.” (Ecclesiastes 10:19)

I get the first phrase about bread making someone happy. I get the second phrase about wine making someone happy.

But what about that third phrase about money being the answer to everything? Isn’t the love of money the root of all kinds of evil (I Tim 6:10)? Isn’t it hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 19:23)? Doesn’t money not profit us when we face God (Prov 11:4)? Yes, yes, and yes.

So, what could Solomon mean when he says that “money answers everything?”

The right interpretation of this verse comes down to whether Solomon is making this statement as “descriptive” or “prescriptive.” In other words, is he saying, “Believe this” (a command for us) or “this is what I believed” (autobiographical)?

You see, much of the Scripture is descriptive and not meant for our application (e.g., the command for Israel to slaughter the Canaanites). At times, God is simply recording how things were and not telling us how things should be with.

I tend to think Solomon is being descriptive here of his own selfish pursuit in life. He is saying, “I thought money would solve all my problems. I thought money would satisfy. I thought if I had enough riches, I wouldn’t lack.”

And due to this book being autobiographical, the lesson is the opposite: money does not answer everything.

We must heed the warning from that English minister of the late 1800’s J.C. Ryle: “Money, in truth, is one of the most unsatisfying of possessions. It takes away some cares, no doubt; but it brings with it quite as many cares as it takes away. There is trouble in the getting of it. There is the anxiety in the keeping it. There are the temptations in the use of it. There is the guilt in the abuse of it. There is the sorrow in the losing of it. There is the perplexity in the disposing of it. Two-thirds of all the strifes, quarrels, and lawsuits in the world, arise from one simple cause – money!” (Practical Religion, pg. 327).

Money isn’t evil, but it certainly has a subtle way of tempting us to think it is all-satisfying. It is not and it is not the answer to all of your problems. Don’t ask God for more money; ask God for a content heart with whatever level of riches He gives you.