Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
This verse continues the theme of the preceding verse — riches. They can be gone in a glance, gone so high and far away that we can’t touch or maybe even see them again. Most of us have experienced this on some level and understand that it’s just a truth about life.
But the bigger issue for us is really this: that we continue to believe riches are so important and that, somehow, we can hold on to them. Neither are true.
The best way to deal with riches would be to trust God, work hard and appreciate everything we have – one day at a time. Job understood how it worked and, in the end, was able to accept the process: “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away, blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21 ESV).