Enough

II

But, and I find this most interesting, the poet of Proverbs also encourages us to pray that we not have poverty. “Give me not poverty”. He is not some spiritual do-gooder, eating bread and water and thinking himself extra holy. He is not some pious poser, trying to impress you with how saintly he is because he gets his clothes at the thrift store and puts cardboard in his shoes. There are people who have to do these things; and it’s sad. But the Bible does not suggest that they are spiritually better than those who do not have to. The Bible tells us that we need to pray for enough, because poverty too is a spiritual issue. Not having enough also tears down our spiritual health. “Give me [not] poverty ... or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God.”

How did we ever get the idea that poverty was somehow spiritual? How did we ever invent the notion that God blesses us with poverty? But for centuries of Christian history, young men were told, if you would follow Christ, go, sell all you have, and enter the monastery. Young women were admonished, forget the jewels and the luxuries of a home; embrace Lady Poverty and go to the convent. For generations people were told that there was something uplifting and wonderful about being poor.

And some of us have our stories too. Our stories are true, I do not doubt that. But there’s something we miss, something we don’t see in them. You know the kind of story I’m talking about. We’ll say, “Oh, I was one of ten children, and my papa worked two jobs just to keep bread on the table, and my mama scrimped and saved and made us clothes out of feed sacks. But we hardly even knew we were poor, because we were so blessed with love.” You’ve heard those stories? Maybe you’ve even told them?

All right, that’s fine. But what about the stories you never hear? What about the other stories? What about the stories that go, “My papa dropped dead at 45 from working so hard, and my mama was disabled and we had to beg from the neighbors and move every year so we could stay a jump ahead of the rent man?” You don’t hear those stories. You don’t hear those stories because the people that lived them are so spiritually starved they aren’t in church, or, if they are, they know there’s no inspiring story to tell. For them, there was no benefit in being poor. It was degrading.

And then, what about other stories that might go, “My papa went to jail for stealing when we were little, and my mama had lots of boy friends, and said that was the only way she could feed us.” You aren’t going to hear that story in church, are you? There’s no inspiring testimony there, is there? But I’ll tell you what it does teach us. Exactly what the Scripture says, “.. I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God.” Let’s not romanticize poverty. Poverty drags people down. Poverty erodes people. For every person that can testify that their family rose above poverty and was rich in love, I will give you ten families, a hundred families, for whom poverty was deadening, dulling, and dreadful. Ten families, a hundred families, for whom poverty was the grim reaper that took away everything, including their self-esteem, and including their relationship to God. This is not what God wants for us, too have too little, any more than He wants us to have too much.