Is Poverty A Sign Of God's Disapproval?
The ancient isrealites were told by God, at Deuteronomy 15:4 in part which says
No one among you should become poor.
God gave the israelites laws that covers how to care for the poor, and to free their brothers or fellow isrealites from paying debts. He told them at Deuteronomy
Every creditor will release his neighbor from the debt he incured.He should not demand payment from his brother or neighbor
(Deuteronomy15:2)
Since God assured them of his blessings, poor persons should not have been found in the midst of the isrealites. Right?
However, they would receive such blessings from God if they strictly obeyed his voice and carefully observe all his commandments.
Does it then mean that anyone who was poor was unfavoured by God?
It doesnt mean that those who are poor materially were somehow unfavoured or rejected by God.
In ancient times, some of the servants of God had little materially.
For example at one time, prophet Elijah relied on a widow with little means when famine struck the land of isreal.The widow did not become rich neither did Elijah, but their basic need (food) was cared for by God. He made sure the widow's did not run out and her small jar of oil did not run dry.
U can read more about this in 1kings17:10-16.
Another example is that of Joseph.
Jesus earthly father Joseph was a humble carpenter with little financially.That is why on the day of jesus purification as required by the law,they could not offer a young ram, they offered two pigeons or turtle doves for the purification.(luke2:22-24).
Imagine, the earthly Father of our Lord Jesus Christ was materially poor. But would you say it was because God unfavoured or rejected his family? Of course not.
Natural disasters, illnesses, death and so on may put people in poor conditions and even prevent them from working. But it is not a sign of God's dissaproval or rejection.
The example of Ruth and Naomi shows that God cares for the needs of his servants. Ruth lost her husband and naomi lost her children but they never starved. They recieved help from God.
This brings to mind what the the bible says at Psalms 37:25
I was once young and now I am old, But I have not seen anyone righteous abandoned, Nor his children looking for bread.
So we can be sure that even if we don't have much materially, God will continue to sustain us if we remain chaste..
Conclusively, we have seen clearly from examples of faithful servants of God in the past such as Elijah, Joseph, Ruth and Naomi. These persons had little financially. However they still enjoyed God's blessings in a lot of ways. So my thoughts are that poverty is not a sign of God's disapproval.
But what do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below
Another excellent writeup from you. We are glad you shared this with SteemChurch.
Upvoted & Resteemed
J8.
I would say no, because the imbalance of wealth in the world is not caused by God. There are also some factors that may lead to poverty. A person that was once rich can become poor due to unforeseen occurrences. Thanks for sharing.
All I can say here is that,from the beginning, God made everything that man needed available. When man fell into sin,man was rob from the original plan and man has to struggle in order to get his daily bread.
But Christ death help to renewed the promises by taken us back to the first intention through His blood for the atonement for our sins.
Man is declared blessed through Christ.
Most people that complaints of been poor today are those that lack the knowledge of the word of God. There are steps to be followed to be blessed even after accepting Christ.(Eg Giving,Tithe and Offering). Most people prefer to hold back the little they have.
Also some are blessed but they are not content with what they have. According to our LORD'S prayer "Give us this day our daily bread". Some worried more about the needs of tomorrow whereas God always meet all their daily needs.
In addition, we have to seek first God kingdom first then all what we are chasing and struggling to get will be added to us without stress.
Mathew 6:33Hmmm this is a really sensitive topic, but I will say that life is a gradual process, every man that is rich today was once poor. And so I think we shouldn't say a poor man does not have christ because he is poor. Remember we should all seek heavenly things but I'm not also saying to be poor is ok, but God knows best.
I agree with @dayjee on this one, this is a sensitive topic.
Many of Christ disciples were poor even Christ himself was materially poor, poverty isn't a sign of God's approval.
Financial poverty isn't influenced by God rather by other physical factors but God reassured us that in His Heavenly kingdom that poverty and suffering will be no more.
In the bible when one is a servant of God, he cast his riches aside and solely take on the work of the lord, so poverty is not a sign of God's disapproval.
as Christians we must ask ourselves: What are we really doing here in this temporary place? Where is our heart (Luke 12:34)? Are we really denying ourselves? Are we really giving sacrificially as did the poor widow (Luke 21:1–4)? To follow Jesus is to take up our cross (Luke 9:23). This means to literally give our total lives to Him, unencumbered by the things of this world. In the parable of the sower, riches are like “thorns”: “The worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke [the Word], making it unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22).
Its not entirly, for God is a a good of riches its trough our inadequency and fault or ignorance that we may remain in poverty.
Wonderful post God does not abandon his own. How never punishes his own as he is always ready to make us understand that sometimes we are the cause of our misfortune. We have to realize how to stop such. God never abandons his own.
no one is happy to be born poor, that doesn't mean you have to remain poor.