Psalm 41:1
Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
Surely God has no greater concern for any than He has for the poor, the destitute, the impoverished. It would seem that no other sound ascends to His ears more readily and more painfully than “the sighing of the needy.”112
Even in the strict day of the Mosaic code, the Lord commanded that if someone lent money to those who were poor, the borrowers were not to be charged any interest. In the six years that the Israelite fields and farms were producing, the owner was not to glean them in order that the poor might glean there and eat. Then every seventh year the fields were to be entirely free to the needy for the full twelve months, “that the poor of thy people may eat.”113
Consider this small sample of the myriad scriptural injunctions given in defense of the poor:
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them.114
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Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.115
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He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.116
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Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.117
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For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?118
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And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God—I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.119
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And they did impart of their substance, every man according to that which he had, to the poor, and the needy, and the sick, and the afflicted; and they did not wear costly apparel, yet they were neat and comely.120
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[They] were abasing themselves, succoring those who stood in need of their succor, such as imparting their substance to the poor and the needy, feeding the hungry, and suffering all manner of afflictions, for Christ’s sake, who should come according to the spirit of prophecy.121
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Yea, and will you persist in turning your backs upon the poor, and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them?122
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If ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need—I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.123
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For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.124
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And inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me.125
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But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to the poor and afflicted among them.126
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Perhaps nothing so crushes the human spirit as does poverty. May it never be said of us that we “beat [God’s] people to pieces, and [did] grind the faces of the poor.”127 Truly the Lord will deliver, in time of his or her trouble, the man or woman who has reached out to the poor in theirs.
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