Coming To Terms With Spiritual Poverty

"But we commend ourselves in every way as [true] servants of God: through great endurance, in tribulation and suffering, in hardships and privations, in sore straits and calamities,

 In beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless watching, hunger;

 By innocence and purity, knowledge and spiritual insight, longsuffering and patience, kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love;

 By [speaking] the word of truth, in the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand [to attack] and for the left hand [to defend];

 Amid honor and dishonor; in defaming and evil report and in praise and good report. [We are branded] as deceivers (impostors), and [yet vindicated as] truthful and honest.

 [We are treated] as unknown and ignored [by the world], and [yet we are] well-known and recognized [by God and His people]; as dying, and yet here we are alive; as chastened by suffering and [yet] not killed;

 As grieved and mourning, yet [we are] always rejoicing; as poor [ourselves, yet] bestowing riches on many; as having nothing, and [yet in reality] possessing all things."

                                             --2 Corinthians 6:4-10

When we think of poverty I believe the first thing that comes to mind is the poverty concerning wealth and finances. Images of war torn villages flash across our consciences. Countries whose citizens, including women and children, have been known to travel by foot for miles to reach water with less than sanitary conditions. Countries, villages, cities, where the people are so malnourished and dehydrated they have no tears to cry nor can they summon up the strength to so much as whimper. 

Sadly this kind of poverty no longer knocks on the doors of those on the other side of the ocean. Poverty is alive and well in this country as well. In January 2017, the number of homeless people residing in the United States was at 553,742, which means that at least 17 people were homeless (per 10,000 in what we call the general population.) Between 2016-2017 the number of homeless increased by 0.7%, the largest increase being among "unaccompanied children and young adults" (14.3%), those experiencing what is called "chronic homelessness" (12.2%), and people who were homeless but not residing in shelters (9.4%). The number of families who found themselves homeless decreased by 5.2%. * There are at least 40 million people in this country who face hunger; of that number there are over 12 million children who go to bed hungry. No longer can most households across the country live off of one income and even those households with more than one income still struggle to make ends meet. 

But the Apostle Paul was speaking of another type of poverty, one that I'm not sure most of us are even aware of its existence and that is the poverty of spirit. How many of us, especially those of us claiming to be Christ followers, know it is possible to be poor in spirit? Do we even know what it is and what it means to be poor in spirit? 

In the simplest of terms, to be in poor in spirit is to lack the presence of God. It's not too difficult anymore to look around and see the things that may quench the presence of God in our lives. Our schedules, wearing our busyness as though it were a badge. Our devices, our phones, our tablets, our computers, all of these things that are supposed to help make life just a wee bit easier for us instead, if we aren't careful, become the very things that will end up consuming us in every way possible. Our relationships--oh yes--our relationships. Whether or not anyone realizes this our character can and will be shaped by the people we choose to keep company with. We don't notice it right away but, if we are in relationship with someone for a given length of time, sooner or later, we begin to take on that person's attributes for the good and for the bad. 

I like to joke that I am my husband's first and third wife but the time in between was anything but a joke. Abandonment...infidelities...alcoholism...triangulation....gaslighting...hoovering...the loss of three babies...fight or flight...adopting the attitude of "If I don't look after myself, no one else will." while topping it off with "No one is going to control me ever again!" Being so far outside of the will of God I couldn't find my way home. About the only way I can describe what I was experiencing at the time was being neck deep in water without getting wet. If you have never experienced this type of feeling I can tell you from personal experience it is the darkest, the driest, the loneliest feeling there is. Poor in spirit? That was me in spades!

Yet somehow in the midst of my brokenness my needs were being met. I was being brought through little by little, one baby step at a time. Did God approve of the way I was living at the time? Not by a long shot! At the same time, unlike my circumstances, unlike some of the cast of players, He was steadfast, He was faithful. Not only didn't He leave me, He wouldn't leave me regardless of how bad I behaved! He never wagged His finger at me while clucking His tongue in disdain. He never *tsk-tsked* and shook His head at me. I certainly never heard Him say, "If you would have listened to Me in the first place you wouldn't be in this situation!" as we are prone to do so many times. What I heard sounded like this--"I don't care what you've done! You're My child! Come home!"

What about you?

Have you ever reached those moments when you know something (specifically the presence of God) is lacking in your life? What did those times of spiritual poverty look like to you? Have they drawn you fully relying on Him and His Spirit? 

                                                                  Devotional Time

Take a moment now to reflect on two passages of Scripture--one a parable of Jesus (The Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-32) and the other a part of the Sermon the Mount--the Beatitudes (Matthew chapter 5). Luke 15:11-32 paints a portrait of two different faces of spiritual poverty, that of the prodigal, the other his older brother while also reflecting the grace of God in the father. In the Beatitudes Jesus makes it a point of blessing those who are poor in spirit, going on to say that they are the ones who see God. Read these passages over several times, noting any reflections, any observations, any thing that God reveals to you. Ask Him to empty yourself of you so that there is more room for Him.

*numbers/stats are from www.endhomelessness.org