Remember the Poor

  1. Job talks about all the things the wicked get away with and continue to prosper as if God were not finding fault with them.
  2. We talked before about God leaving people alone. It’s not a good thing.
  3. This chapter talks a lot about the needy. They are mistreated by the wicked. Some of those specifically mentioned are the poor, the widow, and the fatherless.
  4. God cares about the plight of the poor.
  5. We’re repeatedly told throughout the Bible that we should be caring for them.
  6. In the Old Testament, we have the laws like leaving behind grain for the poor and leaving your fields un-worked on the Sabbath year that the poor would be able to go through and take what they find.
  7. In the epistles, we’re also encouraged to take care of the poor.
  8. In James 1:27, we’re told that part of true religion is helping the orphan and the widow.
  9. In Galatians 2:10, the church leadership in Jerusalem asks Paul and Barnabas to remember the poor, and Paul says that he was eager to do just that.
  10. Isaiah 58 is God lambasting the religious folk who try to fast to get God’s attention and approval, but God won’t listen to them because they exploit their laborers and seek after their own pleasure.
  11. God goes on to describe the fast He has chosen for His people to follow. Among other things, it includes feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and sheltering the homeless.
  12. While we can try to spiritualize God’s commands, it’s clear He wants us to care for the poor, not just try to convert them.
  13. They do need spiritual food too, but as Amy Carmichael famously pointed out, souls are attached to bodies.