Richness Apart from Wealth or Poverty

Better the little the righteous have

than the wealth of the wicked,

for the power of the wicked will be broken,

but the Lord upholds the righteous. (Ps. 37:16-17)

In the middle of this "Do no fret" psalm is the promise of how good life with God can be. Poverty is not good. Whether it be poverty in money, spirit, or friends, it is an emptiness that God does not desire for me.

In seeking God, the righteous will have trials and poverty in many things: "No one can serve two masters; you cannot serve both God and Money." and "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Discipleship is the "narrow way" that attracts few people and the resources from them, so it ends up as "the hard, but right way." God does not make it hard, other people do, even if through mere indifference and lack of concern.

In this light, poverty may seem a virtue, but it is not. It is not the best that God longs to give. Riches are not especially helpful either, really. God longs to bestow richness in my life, however. This is how he upholds those who seek after him. He grants a richness in life that transcends earthly wealth or poverty of all sorts.

The danger here, especially for me, is the desire to have God grant richness without earthly "wealth." Money or friends can be seen as somehow less than or separate from God's provision. Often he does uphold me through the goodness of others and the work that I am paid to do.

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That being said, I also see how I depend on other people more than enjoy them. I may be like a the person who asked for God to save him and refused the raft, the powerboat, and the helicopter that God sent through other people. I may be more likely to be like King Saul who let his spiritual journey be decided by what "the people" wanted from him. Jesus provides a good example in this: "But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men." (Jn.2:24)

Somehow I want to learn how to enjoy the "little" we have, depending on God to uphold me. Only when I thoroughly depend on God will I be able to enjoy people and find peace when I am with them and be thankful for them. My lack of peace and gratitude come from an over-dependence on people, I believe. I do not exactly need to get away from them all the time because that merely shows I am overly affected by them. Instead, through solitude and silence, I need to learn how to enjoy people by understanding them and depend on God by walking with him moment by moment.