Prosecutors have called it the largest burglary in English history; a brazen 2015 robbery in which a gang of graying thieves stole over $20 million worth of gold, jewelry and cash. It happened at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit in London, where a group of men in their 60s and 70s, disguised as workmen, slid down the elevator shaft at Hatton Garden and used a heavy-duty diamond-tipped -drill to break through the vault walls.
The thieves ransacked 73 safe deposit boxes and stuffed the loot into plastic garbage cans before making their getaway. Officers later found the book “Forensics for Dummies” at one suspect’s home.
Wisdom personified, calls out in the Book of Proverbs, “Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it”.
Six of the thieves were arrested and sentenced after the heist and in May of this year, a seventh suspect was nabbed. Crime really does pay. However it doesn’t usually pay thieves. Defense attorneys, court officials, prison guards, crime pays them– indirectly of course.
The irony is that wisdom and instruction from God pay materially as well as spiritually. A following verse in that same chapter of Proverbs says,”(I) wisdom (will) cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their (treasuries)”.
How is it possible that Wisdom and instruction can benefit us financially as well as spiritually? Because when we heed God’s counsel, we make intelligent decisions; spiritual, moral and financial decisions. We don’t use our funds to purchase diamond-tipped drills to bust through safe deposit vaults. We make frugal and wise choices, such as investing in God’s kingdom by tithing and giving; By saving our money rather than indulging in impulse purchases; By being frugal instead of wasteful; By being stewards of what God has entrusted us. Because everything we own has been given us by God.
After all, the Lord says in the book of Haggai, “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine.”
