The Oppressed

Monday:  Proverbs 22:16—Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.

In our modern culture, the wealth gap seems to be ever increasing.  Today, a greater number of people suffer in poverty, and the poverty line is lower than it has ever been historically.  In other words, the poor are poorer than they have ever been.  Did you know that today’s middle class has roughly the same earning capacity of a poverty-stricken person 60 years ago?  So, even our middle class is more akin to our poor and further removed from the wealthy than ever before.  There are lots of complicated reasons why this has occurred, but today I’d like to focus on what God has said about this type of wealth distribution.  In Proverbs, we learn that the oppression of the poor and the related giving to the rich will lead to loss.  In Western culture, the diversion of wealth to the rich and away from the needs of the poor is manifest.  This phenomenon ought to cause grave concern because the infrastructure is unsustainable long-term.  Just remember back to the housing market crash in 2008—that kind of crash can and will occur again as the .01% gets richer while the rest of the world gets poorer.  As Christians we must pray for our leaders and educate ourselves so that we can advocate for the implementation of policies that will protect the poor and lead to long-term sustainable financial security of our economy.

Today as you pray and meditate on His Word, praise God for His Wisdom.  Pray for our nation’s leaders and policy-makers that they might be infused with wisdom and knowledge.  Ask God for insight to be an agent of change to protect our nation and advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves.