The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.
– Proverbs 22:2

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…

This verse shows us that in this world, whether one is poor or rich is dictated and arranged by God. Among believers in the Lord, some brothers and sisters are rich and some are poor. Sometimes, God allows some rich brothers and sisters to coordinate with the poor ones in service together. If the poor one cannot understand God’s will, he will make complaints: “Why does God bless him but not me?” And the rich one will look down upon the poor. In fact, there is God’s good intention in it. His purpose in arranging this way is to let them learn from each other. In the beginning, when they coordinate with each other, and when the poor one sees that the rich one eats and wears better than he does, he feels restrained. Later, through praying to seek God’s will and reflecting on himself, he realizes: “I cannot truly obey God. There are impurities in my belief in God. I am still under the control of money and cannot be loyal to God.” Having this understanding, the poor one learns lessons through seeking the truth. Then even though he eats and wears worse than the rich one, he can coordinate with him in service, can be loyal to God, and obey Him—this is approved by God and he is one who is perfected. For the rich one, what lessons should he learn from it? When he first meets the poor one, he may think he is lucky and blessed by God. He looks down upon the poor one. Then he prays to God and reflects on himself. He finds that such conduct is not something that people of normal humanity is meant to have. He thinks: “I should see his strengths. Though he is poor, eats and wears worse than me, he is able to be loyal to God and pursue the truth. Look at me. I eat and wear better than he does. But it seems that he is not interested and constrained in these things. This is his strength and my deficiency. If I put myself in his shoes, can I continue believing in God? Can I serve Him with devotion? That is not easy. Now I live an enjoyable life, but I’m not as loyal as him to my duty. If I am in his place, I’m afraid that I will be passive and regressive. I don’t have the stature and personal quality as he does.” When he can realize this, he will be shamed and more loyal to God than before. He can even more repay God’s love. Finally, he also learns lessons. So there is God’s good intention in allowing the poor and the rich to coordinate in service together. There are lessons they should learn. Actually, God does not care if one is rich or poor, He only sees his resolve to suffer hardships, his will to obey God, his resolve of love for God, and how great his heart that loves the truth is. Thus, no matter we are rich or poor, we should obey God’s sovereignty and arrangements, and pursue the truth without being constrained by anything. Only such people are ones favored by God.