Dear Trekker,
Two things have settled into my thinking in the last month. First, prolific author and economist, Thomas Sowell, has just released another book, Wealth, Poverty and Politics. In it, he postulates that the phenomenon of poverty needs no explanation. It is and always will be. He then goes on to declare: “Productivity is what needs an explanation.” So often declarations “click” with us, the light suddenly dawns, and we say, “Of course, that’s true!” So many profound things are quite simple at the core!
The second came up in my daily reading of the Scriptures a few days later. Isaiah 41:17-20 leaped out to me while the reality of poverty was simmering on the back burner. (Of course, when Sowell says poverty is the natural state, I immediately thought of the Lord’s words in three gospels: “…you will always have the poor with you.”) “The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs…so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.”
Closing my Bible in meditation, my mind started a 100-yard dash. Questions started popping like lights on a pin-ball machine. What happens when the blessing of God departs? Could there be a connection between poverty of spirit and poverty of the soil? Does man’s sin play a role in this? Do “divine principles” activate with our acceptance of them? Do faith and work produce bounty?
I was drawn to reflect on the “curses” as a result of Adam’s sin in the garden. “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it. It will produce thorns and thistles for you… by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food, until you return to the ground.” The “garden” was so productive. The garden had all Adam needed for sustenance, and God’s Presence, too. When Adam went his own way, fellowship was broken, hardships and toil ensued, thorns and thistles appeared, and water (we can only assume) ceased to freely flow.
When the glory of God, the presence of God, departs, “all hell breaks loose,” quite literally. Man’s sin affected all creation and his toil under the sun to reign and rule over creation. Man, made in the image of God, by his intelligence, sits atop the food chain. All creation is at his disposal. But if God’s abundant blessing does not enliven the land, famine is sure. Surely there is some connection between famine of the spirit and famine of the soil!
One of the saddest stories in all Biblical literature is the story of Eli and his wicked sons, Phineas and Hophni. “They had no regard for the Lord.” “There sin was very great in the sight of the Lord.” They died at the hand of the Philistines who captured the Ark of the Covenant. The same day Phineas (and Eli, his father) died, his wife gave birth to a boy, naming him Ichabod… “The glory has departed from Israel.” Read the full story in I Samuel, Chapters 1-4. Surely success in battle and productivity in life are connected to God’s presence and blessing. If not a straight line, one can connect the dots.
Poverty on every page of history is sordid and sad. The late Nelson Mandela said, “Like slavery, like apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome by the action of human beings.” Well, not too fast here! Poverty was not known before the fall; but it surely is fact now. Author and journalist, Roy Beck has put it all in current perspective in a YouTube video. (Check it out – Google Roy Beck poverty. You’ll find it; it will fascinate you.) No matter what we do, abject poverty worldwide is expanding exponentially. Emigration from poor countries to rich countries is not the answer. Poverty is exploding. If post-modern man, who has basically forgotten God, returns to God, he might stand a chance of undoing man-induced poverty. But apart from turning to the God of abundance (Isaiah 41), there is little hope. Poverty is here to stay…and increasing with the population.
When the Glory is present, what possibilities lie before us! When the Glory departs, we’ve got trouble, big trouble. We lie, cheat, steal, exploit, grab and control! Greed sets in! All threaten the potential of our God-given intelligence! Delusion and/or apathy become the norm. “Am I my brother’s keeper” is our selfish attitude! Our behavior is contemptible; and our intelligence is sorely misapplied.
Trekker, we are made to love. Out of love and tenderness grows abundance. Pastor Eugene Peterson (The Message) states: “Love is the most characteristic and comprehensive act of the human being.” He says, “We are most like our Creator when we love.”
Out of this love we can alleviate some poverty. Lazy hands make poverty; diligent hands bring wealth. All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty (Proverbs 10:4, 14:13). Though the poor will always be with us, (the Lord’s gospel references harken back to Deuteronomy) and though those “social laws” were for the nation of Israel, there are divine principles at work in any successful culture or nation. May we take to heart these words from Deuteronomy 15:7-11: “If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother… give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.”
Faith and expectancy in God and trust in family and friends, a flair for entrepreneurship, fidelity in business dealings, faithful hard work, a focus on educating each other… all these and more help explain productivity. But while one plants and another waters, God gives the increase! Every good and perfect gift is from Him; the fullness of the earth is His!
Lord, do save us from impoverishment!
Your trekker friend,
Jim Meredith