Poverty, God's Provision, and Our Response

There has been so much learning this week that I most definitely am on information overload, but God has been so gracious to provide much clarity throughout this process as well.  As you might imagine, the topics that we discussed throughout the week have been pretty deep, but by far the heaviest talk for me was Thursday morning's discussion of poverty.

Poverty breaks my heart, and at times, depending on how well I'm living in the Spirit, poverty has the tendency to blind me from God's truth and overwhelm me.  Sometimes it's really hard for me to see statistics and read the stories of need around the world that could be so easily alleviated by simple resources and trust that God's hand is in those situations.  During our talk Thursday, we discussed what the Bible has to say about the causes of poverty and God's responses to those living in poverty.  Here are the responses we talked about:

God's Responses to the Poor

1-He listens to, encourages, and defends them

You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; 

you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, 

defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, 

who is of the earth, may terrify no more. Psalm 10:17-18

2-He raises them up

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;  

he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.  Psalm 113:7-8

3-He provides for them

Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, 

O God, you provided for the poor. Psalm 68:10

4-He secures justice for them

I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and 

upholds the cause of the needy. Psalm 140:12  

It's easy to see from these verses and many more throughout scripture like Luke 4:18 and James 2:5 that God's heart is for the poor of this world and He hold many promises for them.  I think a lot of times people who are antagonistic to the Gospel or who have lost sight of the Truth see proclamations like the four above and point to people living in need or living under oppressive governments or those dying daily from easily curable diseases and say that God has failed here, especially in the areas of physical provision like truths 3 and 4 above rather than in more "intangible" truths like 1 and 2.  To be honest, there are times when that is my own sentiment, but throughout the poverty talk Thursday and in my own quiet times this week God revealed to me that a lot of times when I get caught up feeling like He is absent in poverty, there are a two big heart/vision checks I ignore.  Neither one is earth shattering, both are pretty basic honestly, but I was thankful for God to revealing each to me again as I prepare for Ghana.


#1 Loss of eternal perspective: This is so basic!!!  Being short-sighted is such a danger because it can lead a believer to lose track of truth, stop trusting in God's eternal provision and focus only on physical needs while forgetting that our lives are really only a "vapor."  In my quiet time this week God brought me to this passage that reminded me again of the need for eternal perspective.

1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.  2 Corinthians 5:1-5

I have given God my summer to design "earthly dwellings" but they are not the end all.  Praise God that throughout the week of EMI orientation, the staff kept bringing us back to this truth that EMI isn't just focused on designing dwellings to meet physical needs on earth, but strives to design a world of hope through the Gospel.


#2 Physical provision through believers: So often when God's provision is questioned people ask questions in such a way that they are expecting to see an answer in God reaching down and changing the world supernaturally through means that seem "magical."  Now I'm not saying that God doesn't do this, but I think that He calls the body to take care of the poor (Prov 22:9 A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.) and more often He provides for physical needs through the church.  Even looking at John 6 when Jesus fed the 5,000, He provided through the giving of the body.  He definitely stretched it supernaturally, but without the loaves and fishes being offered up physically by the boy in the crowd, there would have been no provision when Jesus turned to His disciples and said "You feed them." 


2 Corinthians 8 really spoke to this in my quiet times this week.  The first 15 verses really speak to this a lot, but the last 2 verses really sum it up well.

14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 15 as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little." 2 Cor 8:14-15

Verse 15 quotes Exodus 15:16 when God provided manna from heaven for Israel in the desert.  Just as God provided just enough at that point, some gathered more some less and all had enough and there was no excess the next day, I believe that today He has also provides in the same way, calling those with plenty to supply those with need.  The inequality of wealth throughout the world is something I've grappled with in the past, even blogged about.  Throughout this process, I've come to believe that God blesses some with wealth and that isn't something to feel guilty about (see Psalm 112) but that blessing comes with the calls to give generously as well, allowing God to provide for others through it.