April 11, 2024

Psalm 37.25  (NIV)
I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

Poverty . . . is not just a lack of cash, but a lack of hope to see the life God intends.*

I heard a Christian health-care professional speak on the overall better health of Christians. While he would like to have told his audience that praying for healing makes the big difference, he said he could attribute most of it to “clean living.” Christians don’t indulge in destructive behavior like smoking, drinking, drug abuse, and sexual promiscuity. 

Similarly, one commentator enumerates some practical, earthly reasons why we don’t see the children of Christians begging for bread: 1) being a Christian leads men to be industrious, economical, and prudent; 2) religion doesn’t cause poverty; 3) Christians have fewer expenses than people who lead more self-indulgent lives; 4) begging isn’t necessary* (I assume that he reasons that Christians take care of other Christians who are in need).

Some speculate that David’s meaning in this psalm is that he has “never observed any that brought themselves to poverty by their charity.”* While I am not an expert in the Hebrew language, I am willing to accept this as an alternate interpretation because it is as true as the others. “You can’t out-give God” is not a direct quote from scripture but it is a biblical concept.  

I can vouch for the truth of this verse in my own life: no matter how bad my situation may have been at times, I never had to watch my children go hungry. While the provision of our earthly needs isn’t a universal promise, I believe that any child of God is entitled to claim the promise that God will never forsake us (Deuteronomy 31.6; Hebrews 13.5).

I long for the day when what Luke wrote in Acts 4.34 will be said of every congregation: “There were no needy persons among them.”*