Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Poor (08/29/24)
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TITLE: A Spirit of Poverty, A Spirit of Remorse | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lakella Davenport
09/05/24 -
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“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifted up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them,” (I Samuel 2:8).
“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him,” (James 2: 5).
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 5:3).
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise,” (Psalms 51:17).
The Bible speaks of being poor in two ways. You can be physically or financially poor or you can be spiritually poor. Some of us at one point in our lives have been both financially and spiritually poor. I have been both at the same time. I grew up in poverty. During my childhood, my family received monetary assistance from the government every month to meet our basic survival needs.
A broken spirit or a poor spirit in the Bible is referring to a remorseful spirit; a spirit that is longing for God’s forgiveness, mercy, and grace. A contrite heart is a remorseful heart. It is a heart that is grieving because of its sin. A broken spirit is one in need of Christ, the Physician, to be made whole. “[…] Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answered and said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician; but they that are sick” (Luke 5: 30-31). We all at one point in our lives, was broken in need of Christ’s healing and forgiveness for our sins. The Bible gives a number of examples of individuals who were broken in spirit, who were poor in spirit and who were poor physically and financially.
Biblical Examples of Those Poor in Spirit.
A poor spirit is a humble spirit. It is a spirit that lacks pride and boastfulness. It is a sorrowful spirit. It is a repenting spirit. In Luke chapter seven and Matthew chapter 26, the Bible mentions a sinful woman with an alabaster box of ointment. She used this expensive ointment to anoint Jesus for his burial. “And, behold a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment. And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment,” (Luke 7: 37-38). She had a poor remorseful spirit. She was remorseful over her sins which Jesus said, were many (Luke 7:47). “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins which are many, are forgiven […],” (Luke 7:47).
Another individual in Luke chapter eighteen, who was poor in spirit was the publican in the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. In this parable, two men went to the temple to pray (a publican and a Pharisee). In this parable, the Pharisee brags upon himself; telling God all his good works, while comparing himself to others he believed were less spiritual than him. “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus within himself, God, I thank thee I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican,” (Luke 18: 10-11). “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other,” (Luke 18: 13-14). The publican had a poor, remorseful heart and spirit over his sins. The sacrifices of his heart were acceptable unto God. The Pharisee’s boasting was unacceptable to God.
Biblical Examples of Those Physically and Financially Poor.
Lazarus the beggar and the widow who cast in the two mites into the treasury are two examples of financially poor individuals in the Bible (Luke 16, Luke 21). The story of Lazarus the beggar shows exactly how God “lifts the beggar from the dunghill, to set him among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory,” (I Samuel 2:8, Luke 16: 19-29, Luke 16:22).
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