By Michael E. Brooks

“But he gives more grace. Therefore He says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Jas. 4:6).

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:3,5-6).

Poverty is alive and well on the planet Earth. Sometimes those of us who have been more materially blessed can lose sight of that fact. Huge numbers of people on every continent go to bed hungry each night. They live in single rooms, or on the streets, wearing the same clothes for months or years at a time. Many only dream of education for themselves or their children. High percentages in the most populous areas are landless and essentially unemployed. Average annual income in some countries is less than the weekly salary of working people in others.

When one visits such conditions it is easy to think in terms of injustice and inequity. How can we say, “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34), when a few seem to have “everything” whereas so many have “nothing”? Such apparent unfairness has caused many to question the very existence or at least the goodness of God.

The Bible’s answer to such charges is simple, yet profound. Material conditions are not the only thing, and certainly they are by far not the most important thing. If fact, God often uses need to prompt us to dependence and thus to faith. To paraphrase Romans 10:14ff, “how will they call upon him whom they do not need?” A healthy person rarely visits a physician. Those who feel prospered seldom cry out in desperation and need.

It is at least in part for this reason that God cannot help the proud. They don’t “need” God nor do they look to him. But the humble are much different. A feeling of inadequacy does much to make one look upwards. The awareness of desperate hungers drives one to search for that which fills. It is no coincidence that evangelism produces great results in Asian and Latin American countries of great poverty, and much slimmer harvest in “developed” Western nations. As Paul observed, “not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called” (1 Cor. 1:26).

For this reason it is not at all inappropriate to state, “Blessed are the needy.” It is to the humble that God gives his grace. And more than wealth, power, fame, and pleasure, God’s grace is great blessing. It assures us of his love and care, his forgiveness, and his eternal salvation. Thank God for poverty. May he send it to more of those who stubbornly refuse to recognize their need.