Psalm 35:10 “All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?”
True Poverty and Prosperity
Have you ever been to Hollywood or to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills? Have you ever visited Manhattan, New York? One thing these places have in common is that you will never see rich people begging there. Now, have you been into any town or city and passed a beggar on the side of the road with a sign? Here in Murfreesboro, panhandling is on the rise.
My point with this illustration is not to disparage begging; it is to point out that rich people do not beg. Yet in Psalm 35, the beggar was King David! He had more money, power, and influence than anyone you know, but he saw himself as needy. He was a king who was poor; a warrior who was weak; and a rich man who was a beggar.
The poverty that David embraced was an accurate view of his spiritual condition. He could have bought anything, yet he was dependent upon God. He recognized that God was the One Who provides.
If you don’t recognize poverty the way God does, you will not see the prosperity He wants to send. To think of poverty in terms of money and might misses the point! Poverty in Psalm 35 describes a man’s recognition of his need; prosperity describes his recognition of God’s provision. Until you see things the way God does, you will not view life correctly. You can survive a deficit of anything but the presence of God.