So many people think if they just had money, everything would be different. What many who do get money suddenly find is that things are different—it gets worse. When Jack Whittaker won the Powerball lottery prize jackpot of over $314 million on Christmas day 2002, it was at the time the largest prize won by a single winner in US history. Whittaker was already a successful businessman, but the sudden windfall proved to be anything but a blessing for his family.
Over the next decade, both his granddaughter and her boyfriend died from apparent drug overdoses, his daughter passed away, he was robbed on more than one occasion, arrested for driving under the influence, and he has been sued by a number of people and businesses, including a Caesar’s Atlantic Casino for $1.5 million in bounced checks to cover gambling losses.
The devil knows we are often susceptible to the temptation to take shortcuts to try to get rich, but that path always leads to ruin.
“In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.”—Proverbs 15:6