Considering the causes of poverty and scarcity, we can conclude that material wealth is an inaccurate gauge of success and real wealth. Unless one works hard and sagaciously, scarcity and poverty will inexorably ensue. The rich young ruler and British oil magnate J. Paul Getty were wealthy by the standards of this world, yet poverty-stricken when it came to happiness because they were slaves to their wealth. In essence, they did not possess wealth, but wealth possessed them. God does not measure prosperity by the ownership of physical possessions but with the depth of a person's relationship with Him.