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Sometimes the
obvious is missed. God is in charge,
and He makes poor and He makes rich. God
has a plan for individuals and families, and ethnic groups, and
nations. Sometimes that plan is seen in storms, and flood, and
natural disaster. We call this providence. We might be supplied with all we need and
feel that we did it all by ourselves, but if something changes, like the
weather, we just might lose all we had.
Farmers know this better than anyone.
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Sometimes you work hard and someone
steals it, or defrauds you, or you are denied access to a job or the
marketplace. This is the reality of
injustice, and racism, and oppression.
Sometimes you own wickedness keeps you from prospering, like
dissipation from drugs and alcohol.
Mercy means we can forgive those who have ruined their own lives, and
still help them. Wisdom is needed to
evaluate repentance, and when it is time to help.
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The book of Proverbs teaches us that the
hunger of the poor drives them on, so it is not our job to make everyone
comfortable. We should realize that
poverty is not a romantic or idealistic state. The ruin of the poor is their poverty, the
book of Proverbs says. Our lifestyle
of self-denial should not harden our hearts to those who have been denied.
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We don’t all start at the same
place. All poor people don’t get to
poverty by the same route, and they don’t all come out the same way either. Generational and culturally
entrenched poverty needs a values transformation. God requires concern for the poor on all
institutions and individuals. The
Bible puts the mandate on everybody; government, the Church, families, and
individuals.
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