Seek Poverty
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Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
1 Samuel 17:39
David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off.
David was preparing to fight Goliath – a “giant” – the representative of a tribe of giants. Of course Saul’s natural instinct was to arm David with his (Saul’s) armor. Saul’s armor would have been extraordinary I’m sure and designed to protect Saul’s life against all forms of attack. David had faith in himself and his own natural abilities, though. He felt weighed down and knew he would be encumbered by the unfamiliar armor.
No, David needed to be unencumbered by man’s tools, weapons, armor and ideas. He needed to trust in God—the God who had given him the expert ability to use that slingshot—and the God he somehow knew had hand-picked him for this task. David didn’t need worldly protection! He had divine protection.
The world is very busy telling us what we need and what we should have. If you watch any television at all you know that there is a pill for whatever ails you. Retail therapy cures all ills and acquiring more and bigger and better things will make your life more enjoyable. Those messages are hard to ignore. Americans live in a bubble, surrounded by those who want us to don man’s armor.
Too often, we heed the advice of the drug companies, the car companies, the furniture stores, the “once-in-a-lifetime, going-out-of-business” sales. We buy a new car, start looking for a bigger, more expensive house, eat fast food-but now it’s healthier-and never seek God and His understanding, His will for us, His desires for our lives.
My husband and I were talking last night about a revelation he had recently. His comment really struck me at the time because of its profundity and it has stuck in my mind since. He said we should seek poverty. Seek poverty. Now isn’t that counter to what “the world” tells us? In truth vast numbers of people living in the world today live in poverty. They live in abject poverty, squalor. They are on the verge of starvation. They literally live in poverty.
But I think my husband was speaking to something a little different. We have learned so well to rely upon God and his understanding in the past year. We have had no choice. Since he lost his job over a year ago, my husband has worked steadily, but in many different part time and temporary jobs in search of the one that was a good fit. Without the regular full time income and benefits, we’ve been forced to evaluate our lives and what is essential to us.
What we have discovered is that in spite of our lack of substantial income, we have thrived spiritually. Our relationship has grown deeper, stronger more spiritual. Both of us now strive to discover what lessons God wants us to learn and how he wants us to apply them to our lives and to our ministry as believers.
I don’t know what the future holds for us. I do know that God has it all under control and has already lain out the path he wants us to follow-individually and as a couple. Sometimes I am impatient. Sometimes I try to don the world’s armor. But it is very heavy and awkward compared to the easy, light burden and yoke of faith.
My prayer today is that you seek poverty. And that you rejoice in the abundance of God’s gift to you—His grace.
Mary
Labels: abundance, faith, grace, poverty
Selah
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Psalm 68:19
Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God [who] is our salvation. Selah.
Do you think of God as one who daily bears your burden? Somehow that seems almost like it diminishes God’s to think of him as a beast of burden, doesn’t it? This the first time I can remember finding a passage in the Old Testament that refers to God in quite this way. Or perhaps it’s just the first time I’ve interpreted a passage in this manner.
Maybe it’s the poet in me, but the whole scene appears in my mind’s eye: Jesus riding in to town on the back of donkey—a beast of burden. . . He is being hailed as a King – but not a Savior – not yet. They didn’t understand; they limited Jesus to their own perception and vision of a Savior. They made their own interpretation of what they needed at that point in time. God had a better plan. But they were too caught up in the moment to see it.
The meaning of the word Selah is unclear even to biblical scholars. It is translated both as “silence” or “pause;” and “a louder strain.” So, we are instructed to pause and reflect upon the God who is strong enough to bear not only my burdens but your burdens and the burdens of the world—The God who is our salvation. Our other option is to shout this phrase from the rooftops!
Perhaps both are appropriate. After reflecting upon God’s all surpassing capacity to support and uplift us, we are inclined to declare that He is our salvation – and to do so loudly and with great excitement! Why wouldn’t we make such a declaration to a hurting world!?
Another thought occurs to me: God’s intention is that He be the burden-bearer. That means we are to give Him our burdens and not keep them, hug them tightly to ourselves, become slaves to them. He wants us to hand over our burdens to Him so we can be free to fully and with great joy worship Him—the God of our salvation.
Wow! That makes sense. In The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren explains that our whole purpose, our reason for existing, is to worship God. We can’t do that if we are enslaved by burdens that preoccupy and distract us from God. God wants us to focus only on Him and His greatness, His glory, His vastness and His ability and desire to bear our burdens. The God who made the earth with a mere wave of His hand, wants to serve us as a slave.
Selah. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God [who] is our salvation!
Sometimes we forget about the personal aspects of God’s relationship with us. We think of our relationship with God on that level, but often not in reverse. We forget that God is our God, my God. We focus on what we want, we ask God for things we think we need. We limit God when we do that. God who is my personal God wants to give me abundance, blessings and eternal life. We ask for crumbs and He wants to give us the whole cake. We ask for sip, he want to fill our cup to overflowing.
Selah. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God [who] is our salvation! My prayer today is that you offer up your burdens to the God of our salvation. And that you allow God to give you the abundant blessings He has stored up for you.
Mary
Labels: abundance, blessing, burden, salvation
