Wealth and trials of the poor
[Proverbs 18:23; 19:1, 4, 7, 17]
Is the poor a blessing or a curse? When I thought of this question, this saying came to my mind: ‘Is it a sin to be poor?’ No one can say that poor is a sin. However, while living in this world, I think somehow poor people are treated as sinners. That means even though poverty is not a sin, in this world where the gap between rich and poor is getting worse, the poor are living under the fingering, contempt, and ridicule of the world as if they are sinners.
As I meditate on the words of Proverbs 18:23 and 19:1, 4, 7, 17, I thought that it was ‘the wealth of the poor’. In other words, even though the poor can be poor economically, there are actually poor people who are rich in God's eyes. Nevertheless, they have no choice but to face trials while living in this world (19:4, 7). Today’s passage Proverbs 19:17 teaches us how to treat the poor. So, I would like to receive the lessons God gives us by meditating on three things, focusing on Proverbs 18:23; 19:1, 4, 7, 17. The three are: (1) The wealth of the poor, (2) The trials of the poor, and (3) How we should treat the poor.
First, what is the wealth of the poor?
Today’s passage teaches two things:
(1) The poor's wealth is earnestness.
Look at Proverbs 18:23 – “A poor man pleads for mercy, but a rich man answers harshly.” I personally think that people in Tijuana Mexico have better receptibility to accept the gospel than Hispanics in the United States when I see our church Hispanic Ministry members strive to evangelize the Hispanic community around our church and when I heard from our Hispanic Ministry pastor who goes down to Tijuana, Mexico with his wife and proclaim the gospel to the people over there. According to statistics, I heard that about 10 Hispanic people heard the gospel from our Hispanic Ministry pastor Victor Gomez and accepted Jesus as Savior through the last missionary work in Tijuana Mexico. Despite this, not so many souls are accepting Jesus in the Hispanic community around our church. When I think about why this is the case, I think one of the reasons is that Hispanic people living in Tijuana Mexico have stronger desire to hear the gospel in poverty than Hispanic people living here in the United States. In other words, I think it is because people living in Tijuana Mexico are poorer in spirit than those living here in America (Mt. 5:3). When I think about it, I think that being poor is a blessing.
Looking at the first half of Proverbs 18:23, King Solomon says, “A poor man pleads for mercy ….” What does it mean? Dr. Yoon-sun Park says, ‘When a person is poor, he becomes humble and desperate in seeking what he needs’ (Park). As we know, when the Israelites lived in the wilderness, God warned them through Moses. What was that warning? He warned then that their hearts should not become proud and they should not forget their God when they entered into Canaan, a land where bread would not be scarce and they would lack nothing (Deut. 8:9, 14). Why did God warn the Israelites this way? The reason is because God knew that their hearts would be proud when they entered the land of Canaan, they ate and were satisfied, when they built fine houses and settled down, when their herds and flocks grew large and their silver and gold increased and all they had is multiplied (vv. 12-13). Shouldn't we also hear this message of God's warning? Listening to the news last week, I heard the news that the US economy is reviving, and signs are visible everywhere. When I heard that news, everyone will think it's good news. However, after I meditated on Proverbs 18:23, I thought that the news might not be the good news. The reason is because I though that if the US economy revives, then we may not seek God desperately. Of course, this is just my personal opinion. But at least I think that we Christians still lack the desire to seek God. Therefore, I think that the news that the economy is improving again may be a danger, not a blessing.
What do we Christians need now? Is it economically enriched by economic growth? Or is it our eagerness to seek God? I think that three things are noticeably lacking in our living in the postmodern era. The three are commitment, earnestness or desperateness, and sense of urgency. When considering why commitment, earnestness, and urgency are lacking, I looked for the cause in selfishness, comfortism, and laziness. As the world moves toward the end more and more, we love ourselves as 2 Timothy 3:2 says. That is why we love ourselves more than the Lord and the church that is the body of the Lord. That is why we are increasingly not serving the church. One of the things I felt in Korea this time is that everyone is having a hard time in living. More and more believers are not committed to the church. I think not only commitment but also earnestness as well. We who love ourselves seek our comfort instead of seeking to suffer for the Lord. Although hedonism is dangerous, I think comfortism is also very dangerous. The reason is because not only we don’t earnestly seek God, but also it makes us impossible to do so. How about the urgency? Do we really have a sense of urgency? For some reason, it seems that we aren’t only lacking sense of duty, but also lack of urgency. I think that's because we love ourselves and seek comfort and thus become lazy. Therefore, I think we are not properly fulfilling the mission entrusted to us as stewards of the Lord. Even so, it seems that we aren’t living a life of faith with sense of urgency in the thought that we should account for when we stand in front of the Lord.
We must ask God with earnest words like the poor in Proverbs 18:23. In other words, we must become poor in spirit and pray to God earnestly in seeking Him. This is what Proverbs 8:17 says: “"I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.” Also, in Luke 22:44, the Bible says “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” I hope and pray that we, like Jesus, will be able to pray more earnestly to God.
(2) The poor’s wealth is integrity.
Look at Proverbs 19:1 – “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity Than he who is perverse in speech and is a fool.” One of the Christian virtues that I personally value in my own Christian life is truthfulness. One of the reasons is because, I don't remember well whether I was a college student or a seminary student , when I went to a senior citizen’s apartment with my grandmother to see my grandmother's friend, she said a word to me. I remember that at that time, as my grandmother helped her friend and took her into the apartment, she pointed to me, and told her friend, ‘This is my grandson who will be a pastor’. When my grandmother’s friend heard that from my grandmother, she said ‘Be truthful’. That word keeps echoing in my heart until today. Don't you also want a truthful pastor? May we all become truthful Christians.
Today's text Proverbs 19:1 is similar to Proverbs 28:6 – “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity Than he who is crooked though he be rich.” In these two verses, ‘the poor who walks in his integrity” refers to the poor who acts truthfully. Here, the truthful person refers to the person whose inside and outside is consistent (Park). Now King Solomon contrasts this truthful man with the fool in Proverbs 19:1. In other words, he is contrasting truth and falsehood rather than contrasting wealth and poverty. What does it mean? It means that it is better to be truthful man who is poor than the false man who is rich. In Proverbs 28:6, “he who is crooked though he be rich” refers to a person who is rich but crooked in his words and distorts his words without telling the truth (Park). About such a person the Bible Proverbs 2:15 says, “Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways.” After all, he who is wealthy and acts crookedly has a crooked heart. And from such crooked heart only crooked words and crooked actions can come out. The Bible says that such person is fool. And the fool isn’t truthful, but rather a liar.
Rather than striving to become rich, we must strive to become truthful Christians. We must abandon lies and hypocrisy and dedicate ourselves to living a life of unity on the inside and the outside. In order to do that, we must listen to and obey God's voice. In other words, we must live a life of faith in which the word of God is being personified in our lives. Therefore, we must be truthful Christians.
Second, what are the trials of the poor?
Look at Proverbs 19:4, 7 – “Wealth adds many friends, But a poor man is separated from his friend. … All the brothers of a poor man hate him; How much more do his friends abandon him! He pursues them with words, but they are gone.” Looking at these verses, we can see what the trials of the poor are. They are nothing other than being hated by his brothers, and being abandoned by his friends. And in Proverbs 14:20, the Bible says that the poor is hated by his neighbors. It means that the poor is isolated and that he is bound to be lonely. Not only that, the poor is also abused and oppressed by evil rulers (28:3, 15; Ref.: 22:16). Why does God allow the poor to go through these trials? Why did God make some people rich and some poor? Look at Proverbs 22:2 and 29:13 – “The rich and the poor have a common bond, The LORD is the maker of them all. … The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives light to the eyes of both.” What do they mean? It means that God made “the oppressor” that is both the unrighteous rich and the poor and caused them to have this in common. That is, God doesn’t differentiate between the rich and the poor, but gives light to their eyes. When the Bible says ‘give light to the eyes’, it means giving the power to sustain life. In Matthew 5:44-45, the Lord said something similar. At that time, the Lord said to His disciples, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good” (Internet). We can't figure out why God made someone rich and some poor. But it is clear that the rich and the poor are all within His will.
James 1:3 states that the trials of poor brothers and sisters among Christians produce patience. And the apostle James says in James 1:12 – “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” I hope and pray that even in poverty we endure any kind of trials with the words of God's mouth (Deut. 8:3) and thus earning the crown of life that the Lord promised.
Third and last, how should we treat the poor?
Look at Proverbs 19:17 – “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed.” What does it mean? The Bible tells us to be gracious to the poor. And the Bible tells us that being gracious to the poor is lending to the Lord so the Lord will repay us for what we gave to the poor (Park). Looking at the second half of Proverbs 14:31, the Bible says, “… But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.” Therefore, we should be gracious to the poor. And we should be concern for the rights of the poor (29:7). We should give to the poor (29:7). We should give some of our food to the poor (22:9). We must not shut out eyes to the poor (28:27). However, the unrighteous rich man is proud and treats the poor roughly when the poor man utters supplications (18:23). This is the same as the attitude of a proud rich man who didn’t open his eyes to the request of the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16:19-21(Park). Furthermore, the unrighteous rich man even oppresses the poor to make more for himself (Prov. 22:16). However, the Bible Proverbs 14:31 says “He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker”.
This land of America we live in is a rich land. At the same time, this land seems to be becoming more and more spiritually poor. The reason for this is that, just as the Israelites at the time of the Exodus lived in the land of Canaan, where milk and honey flowed, and thus became proud in the richness of the land, we are also becoming proud in the richness of this land. In this time, we need to humbly receive the lessons God gives through today's text. We must long for the wealth of the poor. We must long for earnestness and integrity. We must live a life of pursuing the wealth of the poor. At the same time, we must be prepared to face the trials of the poor as well. We must also be prepared to be isolated and lonely, hated by our brothers and sisters and neighbors. In the midst of that, we must be gracious to the poor and be generous to the poor. Therefore, I hope and pray that all of us can glorify God.