In the Bible, we find that people were poor for a variety of reasons. The same holds true for us today. We will look at one of those reasons today with the additional reasons to follow in my upcoming blogs.
Sin causes poverty. Notice Deuteronomy 15. This is a very strange passage. In fact, it seems to contradict itself. Notice:
If verse 4 is made to stand on its own, then it certainly does look like a flat-out contradiction of verse 11… “There will always be poor people in the land.” But verse 5 begins with the tiny word “if”. If only Israel would “fully obey the LORD” and if they would be “careful to follow all these commands” then “there should be no poor among you….” But if Israel was to refuse to fully obey – if they were to sin, in other words, -- (which they did), then the end result would be, “There will always be poor people in the land.” Here we see poverty as being the result of man’s disobedience to God. God didn’t want it. He provided a way to avoid it. Nonetheless, it happened.
Can you think of some sinful (wrong) activities that might cause a person to end up being poor?
Now I want to make one thing perfectly clear. While I do believe that sin can be the source of poverty, I do not believe that:
The Redeemed Team
Sin causes poverty. Notice Deuteronomy 15. This is a very strange passage. In fact, it seems to contradict itself. Notice:
- First, we are told that the Lord will so richly bless Israel that there will be no poor people in the land; verse 4, “However, there should be no poor among you….”
- Then provisions are made for the eventuality that there should be some poor in the land; verse 7, “If there is a poor man among your brothers….”
- Finally, we are advised that the poor will always be with us; verse 11, “There will always be poor people in the land.”
If verse 4 is made to stand on its own, then it certainly does look like a flat-out contradiction of verse 11… “There will always be poor people in the land.” But verse 5 begins with the tiny word “if”. If only Israel would “fully obey the LORD” and if they would be “careful to follow all these commands” then “there should be no poor among you….” But if Israel was to refuse to fully obey – if they were to sin, in other words, -- (which they did), then the end result would be, “There will always be poor people in the land.” Here we see poverty as being the result of man’s disobedience to God. God didn’t want it. He provided a way to avoid it. Nonetheless, it happened.
Can you think of some sinful (wrong) activities that might cause a person to end up being poor?
Now I want to make one thing perfectly clear. While I do believe that sin can be the source of poverty, I do not believe that:
- It is a sin to be poor,
- That poverty is necessarily the result of sin being in one’s life.
The Redeemed Team
