Psalms 62:10

My Notes

What Does Psalms 62:10 Mean?

Psalm 62:10 delivers three financial commands in a single verse, the last of which is the hardest: "Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them."

The first two are obvious: don't trust in oppression (osheq — extortion, exploiting the vulnerable) and don't become vain in robbery (gazel — seizing what isn't yours). Most people can agree with those. But the third slips past the moral comfort zone: if riches increase — when they grow legitimately, honestly, without oppression or robbery — set not your heart upon them. Al-tashithu lēb. Don't attach your heart.

The Hebrew shith lēb means to place the heart, to set your attention and affection on something. David isn't condemning wealth. He's commanding detachment. Riches may increase — and that's fine. The danger isn't the increase. It's the attachment. The moment your heart relocates from God to the growing account, you've committed the sin that oppression and robbery only make more obvious.

The three commands form a progression: don't gain money through evil (oppression), don't gain money through theft (robbery), and don't lose your heart to money gained through neither. The third is the subtlest and the most common. You can pass the first two tests and fail the third — because the money came honestly, and honest money is the hardest to hold loosely.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Has your heart subtly relocated from God to your financial security? How would you even know?
• 2.Honestly earned money is the hardest to hold loosely. Why is legitimate wealth more dangerous to the heart than stolen wealth?
• 3.If your account balance dropped to zero tomorrow, what would your emotional response reveal about where your heart is set?
• 4.What does it look like practically to 'not set your heart' on increasing riches — to let them grow without attaching your identity to them?

Devotional

The first two commands are for criminals. Don't oppress. Don't steal. Easy to agree with. You can nod at those without any personal conviction.

The third command is for you: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

Notice the condition: if. David isn't assuming riches will increase for everyone. But if they do — if you work hard and it pays off, if the business grows, if the investments return, if the income rises — the instruction is specific. Don't set your heart there. Don't let the increase become your security. Don't let the growth relocate your affection from God to the account balance.

This is the most common and most invisible financial sin among good people. You didn't oppress anyone. You didn't steal. The money came through legitimate effort. And because the means were clean, you don't notice when your heart makes the transfer. The heart is subtle. It doesn't announce: I'm now trusting in money instead of God. It just slowly, imperceptibly, starts checking the portfolio with more urgency than it checks in with God.

David says: don't. The riches may increase. Let them. But don't set your heart there. Your heart belongs somewhere the market can't crash, where inflation can't erode, where thieves can't approach. If your heart is on the riches, it's on something that can be taken overnight. If your heart is on God, it's on the only thing in the universe that can't be diminished.

The test isn't whether you have wealth. It's what happens to your heart when you do.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture