Psalm 62:10

“But foolish are the sons of people.” The psalmist knew that not all follow his instruction or permit themselves to hope in God, but that they have their hope in the follies of life. Therefore, he says, “But vain are the sons of people, the sons of people are liars.” Why vain? Because they are liars. Where, especially, is their deceit proved? “In the balances used for defrauding,” he says. In what sort of balances does he mean? All people do not weigh in the balance, do they? All people are not wool sellers or butchers, are they? Or do not handle gold or silver, or in general themselves deal with these materials that the merchants are accustomed to exchange by means of scales and weights, do they? But there is a large class of artisans, which does not need scales at all for its work; and there are many sailors and many who are always engaged about courts of justice and the duty of ruling, among whom there is deceit, but the deceit is not practiced through scales. What, then, does he mean? That there is a certain balance constructed in the interior of each of us by our Creator, on which it is possible to judge the nature of things. “I have set before you life and death, good and evil,” two natures contrary to each other; balance them against each other in your own tribunal; weigh accurately which is more profitable to you: to choose a temporary pleasure and through it to receive eternal death, or having chosen suffering in the practice of virtue, to use it to attain everlasting delights.

Then he brings up a decision for all that was said, not now from his own words but one that he heard from God. “God has spoken once, these two things have I heard,” he says. And let it not disturb anyone that what was said is, as it were, incredible, namely, that God spoke once and the prophet heard two things. For it is possible for someone to speak once but for the things spoken on the one occasion to be many. In fact, when a certain person met someone once, he discussed many things. The one who heard his words is able to say, “He talked with me once, but he spoke about many things.” This is what was meant on the present occasion, the manifestation of God occurred to me once, but there are two matters about which he talked. He did not say, “God spoke of one thing, but I heard these two.” If he had, the statement would seem to have some discrepancy in it. What were the two things that he heard? “That power belongs to God, and mercy to you, O Lord.” God is powerful, he says, in judgment, and likewise merciful. Therefore do not trust in iniquity, and do not hand yourself over to riches. Do not choose vanity; do not carry around the corrupt lawcourt of your soul. Knowing that our Lord is mighty, fear his strength and do not despair of his kindness. Now, in order that we may not do wrong, fear is good; and in order that he who has once slipped into sin may not throw himself away through despair, the hope of mercy is good. For power belongs to God, and mercy is from him.

Thus, no one is able to see the perilous traps before he falls into them. In the same way, Satan, hostile to us from the beginning, sneaks into the shadows of worldly pleasures that grow thickly enough about the road of life to hide the brigand while he plots against us. There he lurks in secret and spreads his nets for our destruction. If, then, we would safely traverse the road of life lying before us, and offer to Christ our body and soul alike free from the shame of wounds and receive the crown for this victory, we must always and everywhere keep the eyes of our soul wide open, holding in suspicion everything that gives pleasure. We must unhesitatingly pass by such things, without allowing our thoughts to rest in them, even if we think that we see gold lying before us in heaps, ready to be picked up by any who so desire. “If riches abound,” says the Scripture, “set not your heart on them.” We must pay no heed, even if the earth buds forth every kind of delicacy and offers luxurious dwellings to our gaze, for “our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.” Nor should we take notice when dancing and merrymaking and reveling and banquets ringing with the sound of the flute are offered for our enjoyment, for the Scripture says, “Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.”

He turns therefore Himself to them, thirsting for them: "Do not hope in iniquity" [Psalm 62:10]. For my hope is in God. You that will not draw near and pass over, "do not hope in iniquity." For I that have leapt over, my hope is in God; and is there anywise iniquity with God? [Romans 9:14] This thing let us do, that thing let us do, of that thing let us think, thus let us adjust our lyings in wait; "Because of vanity being at one." You thirst: they that think of those things against you are given up by those whom you drink. "Do not hope in vanity." Vain is iniquity, nought is iniquity, mighty is nothing save righteousness. Truth may be hidden for a time, conquered it cannot be. Iniquity may flourish for a time, abide it cannot. "Do not hope upon iniquity: and for robbery be not covetous." You are not rich, and will you rob? What do you find? What do you lose? O losing gains! You find money, you lose righteousness. "For robbery be not covetous."...Therefore, vain sons of men, lying sons of men, neither rob, nor, if there flow riches, set heart upon them: no longer love vanity, and seek lying. For "blessed is the man who has the Lord God for his hope, and who has not had regard unto vanities, and lying follies." You would deceive, you would commit a fraud, what bring ye in order that you may cheat. Deceitful balances. For "lying," he says, "are the sons of men in the balances," in order that they may cheat by bringing forth deceitful balances. By a false balance ye beguile men looking on: know ye not that one is he that weighs, Another He that judges of the weight? He sees not, for whom you weigh, but He sees that weighs you and him. Therefore neither fraud nor robbery covet ye any longer, nor on those things which you have set your hope: I have admonished, have foretold, says this Idithun.

So, then, that you may continue in prayers night and day, until that consolation comes to you, remember that you are desolate, however much you may abound in the good fortune of worldly wealth. The apostle did not attribute this gift to just any widow, but he says, "She that is a widow indeed and desolate has trusted in the Lord and continues in prayers night and day." But, note carefully what follows: "But she that lives in pleasures is dead while she is living," for one lives in the things that he loves, that he chiefly seeks after, by which he believes himself happy. Therefore, what the Scripture says about riches, "If riches abound, do not set your heart on them," I say to you about pleasures: if pleasures abound, do not set your heart on them. Do not rely too strongly on the fact that they are not lacking to you, that they minister to your satisfaction abundantly, that they flow, so to speak, from a plentiful source of earthly happiness. All these things you must inwardly despise and reject; you must seek after no more of them than is needed to support your bodily health. Because of the necessary activities of this life, health is not to be despised until "this mortal shall put on immortality," and that is the true and perfect and unending health that is not refreshed by corruptible pleasure when it fails through earthly weakness but is maintained by heavenly strength and made young by eternal incorruptibility. The apostle says, "Do not make provision for the flesh in its desires," because our care of the flesh must be in view of the exigencies of salvation. "For no one ever hated his own flesh," as he also says. This seems to be the reason why he rebukes Timothy for too great chastisement of the body and advises him to "use a little wine for his stomach's sake and his frequent infirmities."

I am aware of that, and I am saddened by it. You are disturbed, and—as he who is infallible tells us—you are troubled in vain. Yes, you are storing up treasures. Even though we grant that you are successful in every transaction, even though we say nothing about your losses, even though we make no mention of the great risks and the deaths that accompany every profitable transaction (I do not mean corporeal deaths; I mean the deaths that are occasioned by evil designs—for veracity dies so that profits may increase), yet, you are being inwardly stripped bare so that you may be outwardly adorned. Yes, suppose that we ignore those facts and make no reference to certain other facts; suppose that we disregard your reverses and consider only your successes. In that case, you are storing up treasures, profits are pouring in from all sides, money is flowing into your coffers as if in a fountain, and whenever a need arises it is engulfed by abundance. Nevertheless, have you not heard: "If riches abound, do not set your heart on them"? Yes, you are growing rich; so you are not disturbed unprofitably. Nevertheless, you are disturbed in vain. But you ask me, "Why am I disturbed in vain? See, I am filling my coffers, and my storehouses can hardly contain the treasures I am acquiring. How, then, am I disquieted in vain?" Because you are storing up treasures, and you do not know for whom you are gathering them. Or, if you know it, I beseech you to tell me. I would hear you tell me that. So, if you are not disturbed in vain, tell me for whom you are gathering treasures. "For myself," you reply. Do you dare to say that, although you must die? "For my children," you reply. Do you dare to say that, since they, too, must die? "It is a pious duty for a parent to store up treasures for his children!" Rather, since a person must die, it is a great vanity for him to store up treasures for those who must die. If it is for yourself, why are you gathering treasures that you must leave behind when you die? This is also the case with regard to your children; they are to succeed you, but they are not to abide forever. I refrain from asking, "For what kind of children?" Perhaps debauchery may squander what avarice has amassed. By loose living, someone else squanders what you have amassed by your labors. But I leave this out of account. Perhaps your children will be upright, not dissolute. Perhaps they will preserve what you will have left and increase what you have saved, not dissipate what you have gathered. If your children do this, if in this regard they imitate you, their father, then they are just as vain as you are. What I was saying to you, I say to them. To your son I put this question: "For whom are you gathering?" To him also I say, "You are storing up treasures, and you do not know for whom you are gathering them." For just as you do not know, so neither does he. Even if vanity has remained in him, has truth therefore lost its force for him?

So, with your indulgence, what I have to say to you is this: do not love the success of this world, and those of you who may have it, do not set your hopes on it. It is false, it is deceptive, it is not really to be had. Well, even if you do have it, do not love it, do not rely on it, and it will not be a pit. "Command the rich of this world," says the apostle, "command them to be rich [in good works]." But the rich of this world are Christians, they are believers. Command them. To do what? "Not to think highly of themselves or to have their hopes set on the uncertainty of riches." As the psalm also says, "If riches pour down," as from a spring where you can draw as much as you want without effort and what you draw will immediately vanish—if they flow, "do not set your heart on them," where it is flowing. If it is flowing, it is making a flood; you set your heart there, it carries it off.

Thus to those who wish to have happiness in the goods of present things, the psalm says, “How long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?” And in another text, “Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.” The blessed James does not cease to reprove such people, saying, “Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire. You have stored up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.” He commanded that the laughter and the joy of such people be turned to mourning and dejection, saying, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds. Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”