Focus: Good Poverty

Text: Ps.34:6

"This poor man cried…"

There is a radical difference between 'poor in spirit' and 'poor of spirit.' 'Poor of spirit' refers to a poorly behaved person, or one lacking in moral values and godly attitudes. He is not rich in spirit.

On the other hand, 'poor in spirit' describes a person who is God-centered and God-dependent. He is utterly reliant on God at all times and in all things. He has God as his only hope. In God he trusts and hopes. He knows and has no one but God. It is a spiritual disposition that is characterized by openness to, consciousness of, and reliance upon God. He is not necessarily materially poor, but he has absolute and supreme confidence in nothing else and in no one else but God.

Jesus, in Mt.5:3 and Lk.6:20, declares him "blessed". The Greek word is makarios, from which the English word 'macro' is derived. So the poor in spirit is greatly, largely or hugely blessed. In the Hebrew the word comes out as 'esher,' and it is a plural, meaning, abundantly blessed or a cluster of blessings. The poor in spirit is in the state of divine blessedness. God is everything to him. In God he truly lives, moves and has his being. This kind of poverty is both a virtue and a beautiful attitude. He is described in the psalms as God's poor - "thy poor" (Ps.74:19b).

Our text says, "This poor man cried…" As a psalm of David, I believe he was referring to himself as a poor man. But was David materially poor? Remember he was a king, and a great one at that. The Scripture says, "And he died in a good old age, full of days, RICHES, and honour…" - 1Chron.29:28. He lived and died a very wealthy man - 'full of riches.' Yet he calls himself a poor man.

Paul describes himself as being "poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things" - 2Cor.6:10. Peter confesses of having no silver or gold, yet he has faith in Christ to raise the dead and make the lame to walk. Jesus was poor on earth, yet he went everywhere doing good and working miracles - Act.10:38; 2Cor.8:9. To the church in Smyrna, Jesus says, "I know thy…poverty, (but thou art rich)…" - Rev.2:9. They are conditionally or materially poor, yet rich in faith and rich toward God. Indeed, this class or category of the poor is a divine asset to those who assist them. You are favored of God for being a blessing to any of them (Ps.41:1).

The poor in spirit are God-dependent, humble and loyal, and God always comes to their rescue and responds favorably to their prayers.

Be poor in spirit, not poor of spirit. Poor in spirit is indeed good poverty. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter