“Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies; for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. ‘Eat and drink!’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you. The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up and waste your pleasant words” (Proverbs 23:6-8).
For some people, the pursuit of wealth destroys their lives because they choose to be a workaholic (Prov. 23:4-5). For others, the pursuit of wealth destroys their lives because of their miserable obsession to save and hoard it. Neither ditch is a wise one.
It is no coincidence that miser, misery, and miserable grow on the same linguistic tree. A miser loves misery. A miser finds satisfaction in making others miserable.
As Solomon so aptly illustrates above, a miser is miserable because he is:
- He may invite you to a meal and encourage you to enjoy yourself, but his words are entirely disingenuous. Enjoying your food would spoil his misery and inflict excruciating pain on him and his wallet.
- Everything about your is weighed in the balances of dollars and cents, and you will always be found wanting. The love of money has made his heart that cold, calculating, and calloused.
Unless you like the taste of vomit and feeling like you wasted an evening of your life, it is best to decline a dinner invitation from a miser. It is wiser to eat alone and let the miserable miser do likewise.
