Contemplative Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 15:4-5 (New Living Translation)

4 “There should be no poor among you, for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession. 5 You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today.

This must be one of those Old Testament passages that no longer applies to us today, right? I mean, there are always poor among us. That is just the way it is. Hmm, these verses seem to link no poor among us to obedience to God. Well, if that is the case, then, uh, er, well…

Enough hints. As a whole we don’t obey well, so there is no surprise that we have poor among us. As an individual, I don’t obey well, so there is no surprise that I have poor among me.

According to this line of thought (notice how I reduce scripture to a “line of thought”), I am not prosperous due to my efforts, and the poor are not poor due to their lack of effort. It is all about how we react to God.

There are days when I don’t want to read the Bible because I don’t like what it tells me about me. God, please help me in my unbelief.