Psalm 70:4-5 - May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You! May those who love Your salvation say evermore, "God is great!" But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!
The psalmist readily admits to being poor and needy, but we may have trouble admitting to the same condition. It would be nice to see a substantial increase in our financial status, but the psalmist has a different kind of poverty in mind. He is poor and needy because he is helpless against his enemies. They want to see him hurt; they hope to catch him in some kind of wrongdoing. He cannot deliver himself. He needs help, and so do we.
Blinded by pride, we may refuse to recognize (or admit) the poverty of our sinful condition before God. The Christians in Laodicea were equally stubborn. Jesus revealed the truth of their fallen condition and called them to repentance: "For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked" (Revelation 3:17). The psalmist speaks of that kind of poverty, the poverty that Jesus called "blessed." It is the humble poverty of spirit of those who know that they are helpless in the face of sin, death, and Satan. Like the Laodiceans, we are called, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to recognize our pitiable, wretched condition as sinners. We repent of our sins and pray, "Hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!" God did not delay His salvation. At the right time He sent His Son to save us. Through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has delivered us. Humbly repenting of our sins, we receive the forgiveness that Jesus won for us on the cross. The Savior pronounces His blessing on us: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).
The apostle Paul wrote of the blessed exchange through which our poverty was covered by God's rich grace in Christ Jesus, who humbled Himself to save us: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). We are heirs of the kingdom of heaven. We are those whom the Savior calls "blessed," the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, the persecuted, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. By God's grace through faith in Jesus, we are blessed, clothed in the rich righteousness of Jesus. The poor and needy are welcomed into the kingdom of God and we rejoice to be among them. God is great!
WE PRAY: Lord, You are my help and my deliverer. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler.
Reflection Questions:
1. How can our pride lead us to think we've got all of life under control?
2. God has seen us in our need. What has He done to save us?
3. What could possibly be blessed about being poor, persecuted, hungry, and thirsty?
Today's Bible Readings: Jeremiah 41-42 Hebrews 11:1-19
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