The first glimpse I had of the
poor was a rich young ruler who after confronting Jesus with how to achieve
salvation walked away from His counsel sad and depressed. This example was a
revelation for me and has also been a great help in discerning who the poor are
that Jesus said would always be around us.
Jesus’ concern was not about the
people who lacked material wealth; His concern was for those who lacked
Spiritual wealth. He stated, “Blessed are you who are poor in the spirit,” not
from the perspective of material poverty but in the position of a person who
simply could not fill his heart up enough with the saving Words of Christ. He
instructed the poor to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s and to give to God what
was God’s. This gives us conformation that a person whose heart is right with
God will always be able to give to God and anything the world requires. Jesus
also told the masses to seek the kingdom first and all the things they needed
would be provided. What we can glean from these passages is that material
poverty and spiritual poverty are not at all the same. We can also surmise that
from a spiritual perspective we are all bankrupt in some way and found poor,
wanting, and in need of Christ’s service.
A worldly perspective of poverty
sets a servant up for deception. Focusing on material needs only can exacerbate
the problem a person is facing leaving them afterwards worse off than they
initially were; the band-aid term has been used to describe this method of
relief. Addressing the symptom, a worldly method, rather than focusing on the
cause of a problem leaves the person in need in a holding pattern of poverty.
This result can leave both the servant and the person in need broken and
disappointed.
Addressing need correctly begins by
understanding what the true need in question is; this is where biases,
presuppositions, and worldly advice must come to and end. Spiritual discernment
must be exercised in order to enter into a needy person’s situation. Spiritual
disciplines must be exercised in the process of serving need as well. Praying
for guidance before, during, and after a calling to address need will allow the
servant to walk with a good conscience and a pure heart. Allowing the Spirit to
lead us into service will always bring us assurance that we are in the correct
position to serve.
In the book of Ezekiel, God calls
on Ezekiel to go to His people and observe them for a period of seven days.
Ezekiel was instructed not to say anything, but just to watch and take in
everything he saw. God told Ezekiel there would be moments when he would want
to speak out about something he saw, but in those moments God would stick his
tongue to the roof of his mouth. God told Ezekiel there would come a time when
he would need to address the people and at that time God would provide for him
the very words to say. I have always cherished this portion of Scripture as it
describes God’s guidance in leading his servant in the call to serve need.
First, we learn that God, who is
sovereign in all affairs, calls upon his servant to go to His people. Too often
we take the initiative to address the poor. We journey out as if we have all
the answers, and have the ability to resolve every situation we come across.
The truth is with this mentality and practice we are in the wrong place,
dealing with the wrong people and completely out of God’s will during the whole
period of service. No wonder people in need get hurt, servants grow weary and
skeptical, and everyone involved falls deeper into the pit of poverty.
Second, we learn that help does
not come right away. God told Ezekiel to observe His people for seven days. Is
it not true that we are just as anxious as the person in need to resolve a
particular problem? How can empathy be discovered; how can the real need in
question be flushed out and how can God’s grace be sufficient in the situation
if diligence, discernment and patience are not exercised. Symptoms are an easy
fix but they are only deceptive issues; real need can only be discovered
through waiting upon the Lord. Like Ezekiel, I am sure we want to point out
problems immediately and if God does not shut our mouths and quench our limited
knowledge of a problem dimly seen, we will cause great harm. Allowing us to
observe need for seven days allows for relationships to be established, empathy
to manifest, truth about the real need to surface, and grace to abound.
We need to ask the Holy Spirit to
lead us into every situation, not because we know how to deal with it or fix
it, but because once inside the bowels of brokenness we have the ability to see
the light and bring the person in darkness to its safety.
