Paying Our Debt to Others with Our Work - Part 3
Last time we decided to focus on the the poor in considering how we can pay our debt to those individuals beyond our immediate circle of family and friends who need our help. Many of us remember that Our Lord said that we always have the poor with us.
(His intention was not, of course, to minimize their plight and our obligation to
help them.) But we may not so easily remember how many times Holy Scripture speaks of how God feels about the plight of the poor.
This one example from Scripture will show us why relieving the plight of the poor will take more than just providing occasional material assistance as it reveals the shocking reality of those who exploit the poor for their own benefit. Psalm 9: 29-35 teaches us that not only do the poor suffer from their reduced circumstances, but even in the midst of their poverty they are prey to those seeking to take what little they have:
Little has changed since this was written centuries before Christ. While you would think that people who take from others wouldn't waste their ignoble efforts on those who have little, think again. Somehow some people manage to find enough to entice them to fleece the poor.
While we know that people in poor neighborhoods are victimized by crime more than others, what's really shocking in Psalm 9 is this: "He sitteth in ambush with the rich in private places that he may kill the innocent. His eyes are upon the poor man...." The rich exploit the poor
I don't know about you, but I had never really thought about this much. It just never would have seemed possible that the most rich and powerful people would stoop this low. Not only that, but it's been going on forever! If you had lots of money and power, would you even think of taking a penny from anyone, never mind someone who only had a few pennies?
How is this possible? Well, it looks like such people somehow think that "God hath forgotten, he hath turned away his face...." So Dostoesvsky was right when he wrote in The Brothers Karamazov, "If God does not exist, everything is permitted." Here we see that it doesn't even require the assertion that God doesn't exist, simply the belief that somehow He's not paying any attention. But we know that God does pay attention, and we know that such injustice will not stand. Even as it might seem that some are forgotten by God, or at least ignored, we know better. Justice will be served, if not immediately, this moment, then in time - at the very least when we face Our Lord the moment we die in our individual judgement, and, of course, before all at the Last Judgement.
But the real point we need to see here is that God Himself attends to the poor: "To thee is the poor man left." In Psalm 10, the stakes are raised: "His eyes look on the poor man...He shall rain snares upon sinners: fire and brimstone and storms of winds shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is just, and hath loved justice..."
But even as the poor are front and center in the mind of God, we still must do our part. And so we'll continue exploring how we can pay our debt to others with our work. For now, as we head off to work, let's remember that justice must always be served. God Himself assures this, as we saw above in Psalm 10: "For the Lord is just." We have a chance today to join with the Lord in serving His justice by attending to our work faithfully, by being diligent in every task we face. Pray for the grace you need to be faithful and diligent.
This one example from Scripture will show us why relieving the plight of the poor will take more than just providing occasional material assistance as it reveals the shocking reality of those who exploit the poor for their own benefit. Psalm 9: 29-35 teaches us that not only do the poor suffer from their reduced circumstances, but even in the midst of their poverty they are prey to those seeking to take what little they have:
He sitteth in ambush with the rich in private places,
that he may kill the innocent. His eyes are upon the poor man:
He lieth in wait in secret like a lion in his den.
He lieth in ambush that he may catch the poor man:
to catch the poor, whilst he draweth him to him.
In his net he will bring him down, he will crouch and fall,
when he shall have power over the poor.
For he hath said in his heart: God hath forgotten,
he hath turned away his face not to see to the end.
Arise, O Lord God, let thy hand be exalted:
forget not the poor.
Wherefore hath the wicked provoked God?
for he hath said in his heart: He will not require it.
Thou seest it, for thou considerest labour and sorrow:
that thou mayst deliver them into thy hands.
To thee is the poor man left:
thou wilt be a helper to the orphan.
Little has changed since this was written centuries before Christ. While you would think that people who take from others wouldn't waste their ignoble efforts on those who have little, think again. Somehow some people manage to find enough to entice them to fleece the poor.
While we know that people in poor neighborhoods are victimized by crime more than others, what's really shocking in Psalm 9 is this: "He sitteth in ambush with the rich in private places that he may kill the innocent. His eyes are upon the poor man...." The rich exploit the poor
I don't know about you, but I had never really thought about this much. It just never would have seemed possible that the most rich and powerful people would stoop this low. Not only that, but it's been going on forever! If you had lots of money and power, would you even think of taking a penny from anyone, never mind someone who only had a few pennies?
How is this possible? Well, it looks like such people somehow think that "God hath forgotten, he hath turned away his face...." So Dostoesvsky was right when he wrote in The Brothers Karamazov, "If God does not exist, everything is permitted." Here we see that it doesn't even require the assertion that God doesn't exist, simply the belief that somehow He's not paying any attention. But we know that God does pay attention, and we know that such injustice will not stand. Even as it might seem that some are forgotten by God, or at least ignored, we know better. Justice will be served, if not immediately, this moment, then in time - at the very least when we face Our Lord the moment we die in our individual judgement, and, of course, before all at the Last Judgement.
But the real point we need to see here is that God Himself attends to the poor: "To thee is the poor man left." In Psalm 10, the stakes are raised: "His eyes look on the poor man...He shall rain snares upon sinners: fire and brimstone and storms of winds shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is just, and hath loved justice..."
But even as the poor are front and center in the mind of God, we still must do our part. And so we'll continue exploring how we can pay our debt to others with our work. For now, as we head off to work, let's remember that justice must always be served. God Himself assures this, as we saw above in Psalm 10: "For the Lord is just." We have a chance today to join with the Lord in serving His justice by attending to our work faithfully, by being diligent in every task we face. Pray for the grace you need to be faithful and diligent.
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