Poor and Needy

Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. (Psa. 86:1-3)

Last Sunday at church the minister mentioned that about 15 years ago the church was having problems with the Diocese and the Bishop. The Diocese was going away from the Bible and the church wanted to stay with what the Bible says. They brought some people up from the Anglican ministry in Malawi, Africa to discuss with them another option. The minister said it was interesting that one of the Malawi ministers said, “You know in Malawi we are very poor and have very little, but we are strong in our faith and our spirit is full. Here in Vancouver you live in a beautiful city with much wealth and prosperity where the people seem to have it all but there is a spiritual famine. People don’t think they need God”. He was and still is absolutely correct. There is a spiritual famine not only in this city of Vancouver but in all our Israel lands. God blessed us with so much and unfortunately the more blessings we received from God the more we abandoned Him. It seems that along with great abundance comes spiritual famine. We think we can have it all without God. How foolish we are.

We are so blind and prideful that we do not even know how poor and needy we really are. Yes, we may have much material wealth and are comfortable, but we seem to still be unhappy and have many social issues that our society can no longer handle. We have a spiritual problem that cannot be solved using our way but only using God’s way. Unfortunately, our ways are making our nations go further and further into a downward spiral. We need God’s help, but we do not want to recognize the fact that we have made such a mess of things. We do not want to acknowledge the fact that we need Him and cannot do it ourselves. “Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified. But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.” (Psa. 70:4-5)

Fifteen years ago, things were better than they are today. Many of our Israel nations are suffering greatly now and things do not look quite so rosy. The earth is in turmoil. There have been many natural disasters as well as financial and government chaos. It appears people are becoming more anxious as to what the future holds. We are a stiff-necked and stubborn people and unfortunately, it appears many of us will have to be brought to our knees before we realize how poor and needy we are!

God is there waiting for us though. His grace and mercy are still there waiting for us to cry out to Him. He is our refuge. Hopefully, like what happened with the prodigal son, once we realize how wretched we really are and how much we need Him, we can run back to Him and He will welcome us with open arms because we are His people and He loves us. He is our refuge and fortress. Let us all pray that this day is coming soon. Let us all pray that this day is coming soon to this lukewarm generation. Revelation 3:16-18 says, “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”

“For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.” (Psa. 86:5-7)