Thursday, July 23, 2009

Poverty

But some of the poorest people who had nothing, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard left behind in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at that time. Jer 39:10 (NASB) Then all the Jews returned from all the places to which they had been driven away and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered in wine and summer fruit in great abundance. Jer 40:12 (NASB) As I read these verses this morning, the thought popped into my mind, "Man, poverty can be good!" Think about it - one of the ways the Israelites had been disobedient was in their treatment of the poor, the servants, and the land. But here, the poorest people are the ones that don't get hauled off into captivity. Not only that, but now they suddenly have an abundance! I always struggled with the concept of poor in spirit from Matt 5:3, wondering what it really means. I think I'm finally beginning to learn. When we are poor in spirit we are free from stuff. The reason Scripture comes down so heavily on the wealthy (James 1:9, Prov 13:8, Luke 16:19-31, Matt 19:16-26, are just a few examples) is because they are so attached to their stuff and their wealth! It's so easy to be distracted by what we have and what we want. We can be dirt poor and have nothing and still not grasp what it means to be poor in spirit. There are things I'd love to have. I would love to be in a different house - one where I'm not constantly worried about my kids hurting themselves or getting sick due to the mold, mildew, and bugs. There are occasional days when I'd really like a second vehicle, and sometimes when I'd like one with fewer than 185,000 miles on it. And, right now I'd love to just go out and buy Doug a brand new computer because he relies so much on his for work, but it's almost to the point of uselessness. But, you know what? We've been in this house for over a year now, and God has protected us through every moment of it. We've been without a second vehicle for over a year now, and He has always provided every bit of transportation we need, either through the generosity of a loaned car or the wisdom to work out our schedule. He's also kept that van working like a dream and provided the money when we had to get it fixed. And, when we are diligent to ask that God provide everything Doug needs to perform his work, He takes care of the computer problems in a perfect way. I wondered the other day how I would feel if a tornado whipped through and took our house or a fire burned it to the ground. I mentally walked through the house wondering what I would mourn the loss of. I've done that periodically through my life, and to be honest, the list is shrinking. Yes, we'd have to replace stuff with insurance money, but it's just stuff, and that's what insurance money is there for. There are some documents and files, some financial things, and some information on the computer that would be a headache to retrieve, so it would be easier if those were protected. I'd miss some of my collectibles from around the world. I'd grieve the loss of precious family photos. But, the list of stuff I'd grieve is shrinking. I know this is a much longer challenge than normal, but I also know it's more about hashing out what I've been challenged with than sticking to a blogging formula. And, as I've typed it it's dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, I'm learning to be poor in spirit. I hope so! Because when I truly get there, nothing will be more important to me than that I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 comment:

Lou said...

That was a great post. Very true.