Psalm 34:5-7, 17-18 (NRSV) 5They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed. 6This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him And saved him out of all his troubles. 7The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them. 17Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. 18Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.
Matthew 5:1-3 (NRSV) 1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Our commitment to self-reliance often leaves the door open and allows pride, arrogance, and haughtiness to slip in, dressed in a garb of respectability. With the politeness of a gentleman outlaw, pride robs us and deprives us of being blessed.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus said. His message was not new. The Psalmist had said the poor call on God and God saves them from all their troubles, the prophets proclaimed it. Blessed is your knowing you have to have help to survive, to recognize your dependence on someone else and to know this as a gift.
Poverty of spirit is recognizing our need for help and acknowledging our dependence on God. It is willingness to accept help as God offers it and not as we demand it. Poverty of spirit is the gift of acceptance, accepting the good and the bad that happen to us all as useful in God’s plans. It is accepting the limits of our power and control and accepting the responsibilities God gives. Poverty of spirit is remembering that we earn nothing but we receive much as we use the gifts and opportunities God gives us. Or maybe the simplest way to put it is that poverty of spirit means that we have been robbed of our pride and deprived of our arrogance so we are more supple and pliable people.
“Theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus said. The poor in spirit know the sovereign rule of God in all that happens. We do not understand the mystery as it unfolds, but we know that the God who can be at work in the bleakness of the Cross can be at work in anything that happens, and in the end does rule. Jesus is the example of what He teaches. Without worry or haste He accomplished the work God gave Him to do and left the rest to someone else.
Poverty of spirit frees us from the pride that robs us of life’s deepest satisfaction, and allows us to experience the wonder and the bounty of God’s sovereign rule. Daily annoyances and irritations can make us bristle or they can break our egotistical ways. Every time the ego breaks a little of God’s laughter, relief, and joy are let in. Thanking God is the easiest way we have to remember who is in charge. Pride finds it hard to live in an atmosphere of thanksgiving. I do not believe pride can rob a grateful person. When we give thanks we always undermine pride’s power.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 3, 1992
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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