The Power of the Spirit and Psalm 49

Psalm 49 reads as follows from the New King James version of the Bible:

1 Hear this, all peoples;
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will disclose my dark saying on the harp.

5 Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
6 Those who trust in their wealth
And boast in the multitude of their riches,
7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
Nor give to God a ransom for him—
8 For the redemption of their souls is costly,
And it shall cease forever—
9 That he should continue to live eternally,
And not see the Pit.

10 For he sees wise men die;
Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,
And leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever]
Their dwelling places to all generations;
They call their lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not remain;
He is like the beasts that perish.

13 This is the way of those who are foolish,
And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah
14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave;
Death shall feed on them;
The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;
And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling.
15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,
For He shall receive me. Selah

16 Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,
When the glory of his house is increased;
17 For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;
His glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lives he blesses himself
(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never see light.
20 A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,
Is like the beasts that perish.\

There is a natural tendency often to want and seek wealth and of course you would want to be able to pay your way say on a trip and so on.

This psalm in particular admonishes not to be overly enticed by wealth to the point where greater meaning is put on it at the expense of spiritual truths.

Why this psalm is important is the ongoing emphasis on wealth in most societies to the point where it becomes a dominant theme and this excessive emphasis on wealth can result in spiritual downfalls.

Another key aspect is how wealth, once obtained, might be used as power play towards people that don’t have it or have much less and this stance amounts to falling in a trap.

The wealthy person portrayed in this psalm blesses himself according to verse 18, which means that he is guiding his life path by this measuring rule of wealth alone and believes that this wealth leaves him in a secure place with a long standing foundation. He is rating himself as doing well based on having wealth or accumulating wealth. That this psalm is saying this is a mistake means that some other factor or factors should have weighed in as important as or truly as more important than wealth. It is more so that the other factors indeed surpassed wealth in importance, if indeed any importance is imputed to wealth.

To a degree wealth then is even looked at when that happens as beyond a means, but like an end, that becomes an extension of the person themselves and who they are.

The truth is, not matter what someone’s situation is wealth wise, there needs to be a detachment from wealth and their spiritual identity. If for example the wealth is suddenly lost, which is always possible, who are they then? The rooted ness in wealth is not enough and there needs to be a spiritual rooted ness.

In Luke Chapter 21 verses 34 thru 37 it says,

4 “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy[to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

The carousing, can weigh someone down, but at the same time, it can almost be interpreted that Jesus expects that people to a degree to be living it up, and that this will to some extent be happening, but he is talking about people putting a total emphasis on this, and not heeding or paying any attention to the ways of the Spirit.

The worthiness talked about here, is from heeding and paying attention to the ways of the Spirit in prayer, and it says nothing about wealth being a worthy item in this equation.

So for example, people working hard and playing hard will happen, but there needs to be temperance and a modification towards turning and paying attention in prayer. In this psalm, there were troubles that would come upon the wealthy that they could potentially have escaped, if they hadn’t been so immersed in the wealth and kept an attentive focus on the ways of the Spirit in prayer.

In the case of the rich man and Lazarus in the gospels, the rich man might have escaped had he been turned to the Lord in prayer.

Verses 5 through 8 are pivotal to the meaning of this psalm.

5 Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
6 Those who trust in their wealth
And boast in the multitude of their riches,
7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
Nor give to God a ransom for him—
8 For the redemption of their souls is costly,
And it shall cease forever—


In the case of the psalmist, he sees that the days may come where he is surrounded by rich people who are working schemes and trying to overtake the whole scene out there. \They might actually succeed in doing this. Wealth can put them in the position to manipulate things to their advantage. At my heels gives symbolism to the idea of snakes or sneakiness, ready to nip and bite at the heel.

They can also symbolically be kicked aside and being at the heel means that they are ultimately followers that will not get ahead in what really counts... They will not be able to pass front and center with there schemes.

The very key is verses 7 and 8. These verses in talking about ransoming for others can only be done through the Power of the Spirit.

In Acts chapter 8 it says starting with verse 18:

“18When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money 19and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."

20Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin."

24Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me."

Simon the sorcerer thought that money could be given to Peter to how the ability to intervene for others with the Power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit and the Power of the Spirit can not be brought with money and without the Spirit there isn't any power of intercession for others.

The moral of the story is that the idea and meanings of wealth does not fly as far as the Power of the Spirit. The Power of the Spirit cannot be brought with any amount of wealth.

It is not just the wealthy that are at fault in this psalm. The admonishment is to the rich and poor alike both of whom have the same incorrect view of wealth, that it followed into additional entitlements that in fact were not there.

Wealth does not contain within it the redemptive power of prayer, and does not equate to a prayer position or prayer privileges

Poverty does not excuse a believer from the table of prayer.

Your say in the realm of prayer can be great. Joseph in the book of Genesis became an exceedingly wealthy man. But it was only the channel of God’s grace the ultimately allowed him to ransom his brothers from the perils of famine that were throughout all the lands.

To be of true value wealth needs to move with the ransoming work of the Kingdom or it is just stagnant water.

The ransoming power is by no means achievable through wealth; it must be set to flowing stream of redemptive grace.

The positive is that through this Power of the Spirit, a brother or sister can be reached both in the distance of time and space. Someone can be prayed for in faraway lands or in faraway times in the future.

It is always understood that worldly wealth does not equate in any way to the power of the Spirit and neither does poverty. So there is no exemption from the call to prayer for being either in the state of wealth or in the state of poverty. In the case of this psalm, both the poor and the rich have their eye on wealth; there the first overlook always needs to be the watch of Prayer in the Spirit.

In Ephesians Chapter 6 verses 18 it says, “8And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”

The Power of the Spirit in prayer is called for by believers on all occasions and in all kinds of ways and all kinds of requests. This is a comprehensive view, and there needs to be an alertness or watch to this.

For the believer also there should not be too much of a drop off into worldly concerns to the extent that this view is compromised. While prayer intertwines with the world as we know it, manifold attention must be paid to prayer and the operations of the Spirit through Prayer and the thereby the manifestation of the Power of the Spirit through prayer.

The state of poverty or the state of wealth does not buy prayer power in the Spirit. So there is no reason to stop praying while you are waiting for your next paycheck or even while your finances are suffering.

The call to prayer and the Power of the Spirit remains.

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Joseph Jagde - About the Author: