All around us, we see people suffering through financial hardship. That may even include ourselves. Life is expensive and is getting more expensive by the day. People cry out to God regularly for relief from their financial woes, as if God would be as concerned about their lack of funds as they are. But for all their crying and supplication, God doesn’t seem to relieve their suffering.
Yet Jesus Himself told His disciples that the poor would be with them always (Matthew 26:11; Mark 14:7; John 12:8), not from a lack of compassion towards the poor, but as a statement, when they spoke out in condemnation of a generous act.
The interesting thing here is that this shows up in three of the Gospels. That’s significant; because one of the ways we can tell how important something is in the Bible is by how often it is repeated. In the case of the gospels, the more of the gospels that the event shows up in, the more important it is.
But why would this be important?
The idea that poverty is God’s responsibility is one that mankind has made up; not one that God takes credit for in the Bible. If anything, God says that being poor is a blessing; but not in the way we might think that it is. Jesus said, in the Sermon on the Mount:
Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, for yours in the kingdom of God.” – Luke 6:20
We can gain more clarity on this verse, when we take it together with one that shows the opposite side of Jesus’ thinking:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” – Matthew 19:22-23
The contrast between these two passages is amazing. It would be easy to take these two verses to say that poverty is a requirement to get into heaven. But that’s not what Jesus was saying. In both cases, He was dealing with a misconception that material wealth was an indication of one’s spirituality. Those who were rich, were thought to be blessed by God, while those who were poor were cursed by Him.
Ironically, these teachings turned that idea on its head, to the point where there were centuries where it was thought that those who were poor were the spiritual ones and those who were rich were evil. That was no truer than the first misconception. One’s financial status is not an indication of their spiritual one, regardless of what it is.
Perhaps this has something to do with God’s seeming inactivity in dealing with people’s financial struggles. He is much more concerned with our spiritual condition, than with our material one; so, that’s where His focus is going to be.
Taking that a step further, it may very well be that some of us need to suffer through financial hardship, in order to grow spiritually. If God were to solve our financial woes at our request, how would that help us to grow? What valuable lesson would we learn? Would we not be more likely to get ourselves into financial trouble again, expecting God to be there to bail us out?
There is a Solution for the Poor
Please don’t take this as Jesus not caring for the poor. He did care for them and was in the habit of giving to the needy. Remember the time that He fed 5,000? That wasn’t just so that He could show off. He was concerned that the people were hungry, so He multiplied food for them. But He didn’t do that all the time. Rather, while He did give to the poor, He gave the responsibility of caring for them to others.
We see this clearly laid out in the story of the Rich Young Ruler. This young man had gone to Jesus, asking what he had to do to receive eternal life. Jesus responded, telling him to obey the commandments, which he claimed that he had done all his life. It is then that Jesus gave him some further instruction:
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” 22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. – Mark 10:21-22
As with many other stories in the Bible, this one is easy to misunderstand. Frist, Jesus didn’t tell him that he had to sell everything or even if he had, he had to give all the proceeds away, making himself poor. Rather, Jesus told him to sell and give, adding the promise that this would give him riches in heaven. Had the young man truly understood the scriptures, he would have quickly connected that to Proverbs 19:17, a verse well-known to the Jews and a byword in their culture:
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He (God) will repay him for his deed. – Proverbs 19:17 ESV
Giving to the poor is something that the Jews consider a “mitzvah,” a good deed. As such, it is an important part of their life, right up there with obeying God’s Law. All Jesus did was instruct that man to follow after that part of his own beliefs. But here’s the kicker, had he tried to give away all he had, he never would have succeeded. As we just read, God would be repaying him for what he gave. He’d literally never run out.
You see, the responsibility of taking care of the poor belongs to us, those who believe in the Lord. It’s not the government’s job; it’s ours. Yet sadly, we have fallen short of fulfilling this role in the world. As the Apostle James put it:
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. – James 1:27
Or, if that’s not clear enough for you; how about what Jesus Himself said about it:
For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me… 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to me.’” – Matthew 25:35-36, 40 (taken from a larger passage)
What has happened in our society today, is that the church has abdicated this responsibility to the government, so now we have the government taking care of the poor. But the way that the poor are taken care of, is nothing like how they were taken care of in Biblical times. Many of those who are called poor today have color televisions and $1,000 cell phones. They are poor in the sense that they are not living as well as the “middle class.” But by the standards of history or even of other countries in the world, they are rich.
The Standard of Poverty
This may not be important from a biblical sense, but it is from a historic one. All through human history, the “norm” has been poverty. The vast majority of people were poor, with only a few who were wealthy. The last 100 years have become the richest time in history, with a higher percentage of people pulling themselves out of poverty than ever before. This is largely due to the old feudal system of government being replaced by democracy and capitalism.
Today, we are able to work for ourselves and for our own betterment. While we still pay taxes to our government, we get to keep more of what we earn. That money allows us to better our own lives, rather than expecting some prince or duke to make our lives better.
The other thing that is happening is that our standard of living is increasing, causing the “poverty line” to change, moving upwards. People living 100 years ago didn’t have those color televisions and $1,000 cell phones that we consider “necessities” today. They didn’t buy seven dollar cups of coffee and six dollar ice cream cones. Thirty years ago, cars with power windows and seats were luxury cars, which only the wealthy could afford. These types of things have driven people to be considered poor, who wouldn’t have been considered poor before.
Young people getting out of college today, graduate with crippling debt. Yet they still expect to live at the standard that their parents do. They don’t realize that when their parents moved out and got their first apartment, they slept on a mattress on the floor and the only other furniture they owned was probably a couple of bean bag chairs.
So, What About the Rest of Us?
Obviously, the poor aren’t the only ones who have financial problems. Most people do. Part of that can be blamed on the high standard of living we all expect to maintain. That drives the average family to live on 112% of their income, using credit to make up the difference. But even that credit has to be paid eventually.
The Bible actually gives us a lot of advice on how to handle our money, most especially in the book of Proverbs. God recognizes the importance of money in our lives and wants to help. But His idea of help may very well be considerably different than our own. We want to just ask Him for money; but He has other ideas.
But can’t we just ask God for more money?
Yes, we can; but that doesn’t mean that He will give it to us. It has been said that salvation is free; but that doesn’t mean that everything is. Once we are saved, pretty much any blessing we receive from God has some cost associated with it. It may not be a financial cost; but it is a cost nonetheless.
In the case of financial blessings, the cost is obeying God with our finances. More than anything, that means tithing on our income. Even so, there are Christians who try to claim that tithing is an Old Testament rule that doesn’t apply to us in New Testament times. But that doesn’t seem to be the way Jesus saw it:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of the mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. – Matthew 23:23 & Luke 11:42
We see here that Jesus was getting after the Pharisees about them ignoring what He referred to as the “weightier matters of the law,” which were “justice and mercy and faith.” That’s the clear part of the verse. But at the same time, He tells them “without leaving the others undone.” What does that refer to? To continue their custom of tithing on the herbs they grew in their gardens. He literally told them to continue being so picky about their tithing, that they were tithing the herbs grown in their gardens.
What does that have to do with us? Well, it makes sense when we put it together with the most well-known verse on tithing:
Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, “In what way have we robbed You?” In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. – Malachi 3:8-10
If we don’t fulfill the basic requirement of tithing, yet still ask God to bless us financially, we are literally asking God to go against His Word. How can He do that, and still be a God of justice? On the other hand, if we do tithe, God says that He will “open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” Those blessings can be in direct financial gain; but they might also be in the form of God providing in other ways, so that you don’t need to spend the money you have. Not having to replace the tires on the car as soon is still a blessing and it improves your financial situation, without one single dollar falling into your hands.
Keep in mind that God isn’t going to do anything illegal, like make $10,000 suddenly show up in your bank account. The things that He will do, to bless you financially, will be hidden in everyday activity, such as the boss offering overtime, finding bargains on things you need and not having to spend money on repairs, doctor’s bills or replacing broken and worn-out items.
There’s More to it than That
While tithing is essential to receiving God’s financial blessing. It isn’t the only thing that we should think of. God is not going to give anyone something that will harm them spiritually or go against His will. This is a major area where people go amiss in their prayers, asking God for things that He has not promised to provide.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. – James 4:3
If we’re honest with ourselves, the biggest reason why any of us ask God for finances, isn’t so that we can buy food for our families, but to buy luxuries that we don’t actually need. Oh, we might hide that by asking God for money to pay the rent; but that’s because we’ve spent the money that we earned on things that may not really qualify as necessities, like a new cell phone or larger TV set, or by buying a car with payments that we really can’t afford.
There’s a tendency to confuse needs with desires and expect God to take care of every desire we have. But contrary to popular belief, God never promises to meet every desire. The verse people use to support the idea that He does is generally taken out of context, ignoring part of the verse:
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. – Psalms 37:4
The fallacy in how people take this is that they interpret it as saying that God will give you whatever you desire. However, if we take the entire verse, we see that there is a condition included; that we delight ourselves in the Lord, rather than in those desires. We must be seeking first after Him and to receive our pleasure from that relationship. Then, once we do that, we will find that He fills our hearts with good desires that He will then give to us. The surrounding verses support this interpretation, as they talk about trusting in the Lord and committing our ways unto God.
This is not to say that God doesn’t desire for us to be blessed; He does. But His definition of that is often different than ours, simply because He is looking at the impact that blessing will have on us. Anything that is going to hurt our spiritual growth is going against His will for our lives and He will not answer those prayers.
God Does Provide for Us
We can take comfort in the fact that God does provide for us. But His provision is directly connected to our obedience. So, if we want His material blessing, we must obey His Word and do things according to His will. This isn’t all just things that seem spiritual; there’s a practical side to it too; the side of working.
For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. – 2 Thessalonians 3:10
And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. – Deuteronomy 8:18
Yes, God gave us the ability to work and expects us to do so. That actually goes all the way back to the fall, when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Rather than just picking fruit from the trees, Adam had to work the ground to raise that food. Work is an important part of life, and as it says there in Deuteronomy, it gives us the power to gain wealth. So, God isn’t opposed to our becoming wealthy.
At the same time, these verses don’t say that if we lose our jobs, due to no fault of our own, that we should starve. It says “if anyone will not work.” That’s not the same as someone who can’t work, due to illness or injury, nor is it the same thing as someone who has lost their job and is looking for another. It specifically refers to those who refuse to work for some reason.
Interestingly, there’s a passage in First Timothy that talks about widows, saying that a widow should not be put on the rolls of widows who would receive aid, unless she is over 60 years of age, has only had one husband, and has a good reputation (1 Timothy 5:9-15). Again, this is not saying to let them starve, nor is it an indictment against the welfare system. Rather, Paul makes it clear that his motivation is to have those women engage in a productive life, whether through remarrying or through finding ways of being a blessing to the community. His concern was that women who didn’t need to do anything might turn to gossip and slander.
A social safety net is a good thing; but there is nothing in the Bible that supports living on it for one’s entire life. Rather, there are many verses that support the idea of working to meet our own needs and in being generous to help others.
So, How Should We Pray?
All this is not to say that we can’t or shouldn’t pray for our needs to be met, including our financial ones. The things stated above are there because they are requirements that God has established, for us to fulfill, before praying. Once we’ve fulfilled them, we can trust in faith that He will answer our prayers.
Jesus even included such a prayer in the prayer outline that He gave his disciples, in what we know as the Lord’s Prayer. Although it is the shortest part of the prayer, it is included:
Give us this day our daily bread. – Matthew 6:11
While there isn’t much there; it’s sufficient. We don’t need to spend a lot of time praying for our needs to be met, all we need to do is to let God know that we’re looking to Him to meet those needs. As Jesus said, just before the Lord’s Prayer, “your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8).
Always ask in faith, expecting that God will answer you. He cares for you and will meet you at your point of need; but you need to have faith; for “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
What exactly does that mean, to go to God in faith? It means that you go, expecting an answer. Not only that, it also means that you are expecting that answer so much, that you don’t have a plan B. If you have a plan B, saying to yourself “If God doesn’t answer me by Friday at 3:00, I’m going to ask my cousin for a loan,” you may as well start out by asking for that loan; you’re not asking God in faith.
One Final Point
Our God is a God who blesses His people. That’s not so much due to our asking; but is due to our obedience to Him. I have personally been the recipient of His material blessings on many occasions. The house I own can be considered to be one of those. Even though we are “empty nesters,” my wife and I own a large home, on a large lot, in a small rural town. It’s actually more than we need for the two of us; but we asked God for it anyway, so that we could have enough room for our kids and grandkids. We also use the extra rooms to provide a place of rest to traveling missionaries and other ministers who might need one.
I believe that there are three reasons why I was able to count on God’s blessing in making it possible for us to buy this home. The first is that I had made sacrifices for the Lord, in obedience, as a minister. Those included my family living in a motorhome for several years, as we traveled and ministered. The first home I owned (after that time) was used as a sanctuary for missionaries and ministers, as I mentioned above. So, I have been faithful to God. But then, I lost that home due to a personal tragedy. It doesn’t matter what the tragedy was; but God gave us the opportunity to buy this house, which is just about as big and nice as that one was. We hadn’t planned on buying a house this big and had tried to buy a smaller one. But that deal fell through and then we found this home, which is about 50 percent larger. The deal went through without a hitch and well within our budget.
I personally know God as a provider. Yes, I have had times of financial struggle and hardship in my life. I can tell lots of stories about that. But I learned to trust God, in faith, and He always came through for me.