I Am Poor and Needy (by Pastor Jason Coker)

Psalm 86.1
Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

In America there’s almost nothing worse than to be poor and needy. America is the land of strong, relentless workers. Workers who won’t take poverty for an answer, who look hardship squarely in the face and pull themselves out of the pit by sheer determination and grit. These are our heroes, men and women with an “I can” attitude and a rags-to-riches-story, the American dream of which we all drink deeply.

To be poor in the midst of a wealth that can be freely earned is shameful to American sensibilities. Be honest, isn’t it hard sometimes to look squarely upon people who have their hand out? Isn’t there – even among the most compassionate among us – a distant sense of being puzzled by a poor person, or a lingering aftertaste of bitterness, or perhaps even for some of us the hearts hair-trigger, explosively firing off accusations and condemnation?

Scripture, of course, explicitly teaches the value of a strong work ethic. “How long will you lie there you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.” (Proverbs 6: 9-11) We celebrate these passages, and rightly so, for in them is great wisdom for life, but I think our problems with the poor run deeper than simply the abhorrence of laziness, for clearly the reality of poverty is more complicated than mere laziness. Some of the hardest working people in America are among our poorest.

Instead, our embarrassment of the poor and needy is at least partly entangled with the impression that by their very existence they repeatedly utter the two dirtiest words in American English: “I can’t.” People who say such things are beyond our patience. Just ask yourself, how would your thoughts respond to someone saying these words? “I can’t pay my rent; I can’t take care of my kids; I can’t hold down a good job; I can’t take care of myself. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t… ” Rather than mercy, such people tend to reap our total rejection to the point of blind indifference. To be counted among such people is the worst possible condition for proud Americans. Would you rather be a sick person “fighting” your illness, or a “charity case” living off someone else’s benevolence? Most of us would choose the former.

And herein lies our spiritual problem, for in the Kingdom of God there’s nothing better than to be poor and needy. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matt 5:3) Here Jesus is merely echoing age-old wisdom. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17) says David, and Isaiah seems to agree when he offers us this from the Lord, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Not only do we all need the mercy of others from time to time, but from the vantage point of eternity we need the mercy of God all the time! We are forever destined to live off the charity of the Lord. As long as we insist upon our self-sufficiency, we will remain distant from God, but once we’ve realized we are truly poor and needy, God will dwell with us.