Blessed is he who considers the poor; the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive, and he will be blessed on the earth; you will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness; you will sustain him on his sickbed. Psalm 41: 1-3, NKJV.
Dear God, We thank You for Your loving kindness toward us. We are grateful, that You are always willing to meet with us, for the study of Your Word. In the holy name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Yesterday we talked about other aspects of poverty (poverty of spirit, and, of self esteem), and barely touched on the topic of regular poverty. I am impressed to give more time to talking about poverty as, “a lack of those goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society.” We will need to unpack this definition to come to a better understanding of what poverty really is. David Gordon wrote a paper entitled, ” ‘Indicators of Poverty and Hunger‘ for the United Nations [in which he] further defines absolute poverty as the absence of any two of the following eight basic needs:
- Food: Body Mass Index must be above 16.
- Safe Drinking water: Water must not come from solely rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby (less than 15 minutes’ walk each way).
- Sanitation facilities: Toilets or latrines must be accessible in or near the home.
- Health: Treatment must be received for serious illnesses or pregnancy.
- Shelter: Homes must have fewer than four people living in each room. Floors must not be made of dirt, mud, or clay.
- Education: Everyone must attend school or otherwise learn to read.
- Information: Everyone must have access to newspapers, radios, televisions, computers, or telephones at home.
- Access to services: This item is undefined by Gordon, but normally is used to indicate the complete panoply of education, health, legal, social, and financial (credit) services” (Absolute Astronomy.com).
I am sure that all of us can think of countries where people live under these conditions. That is, without two, or more, of these basic needs. For many of them, some of these needs, considered basic for many of us, are extras, or even luxuries!
How can we hope for a better world when the smallest percentage of countries have control over the largest percent of the world’s wealth? Listen to what Ha-Joon Chang has to say in his book, Bad Samaritans, “Much of what happens in the global economy is determined by the rich countries, without even trying. They account for 80% of world output, conduct 70% of international trade and make 70-90% (depending on the year) of all foreign direct investments. This means that their national policies can strongly influence the world economy” (31). Need I say more?
In the introduction of his book, The End of Poverty, Jeffrey Sachs writes, “Currently, more than eight million people around the world die each year because they are too poor to stay alive” (1). Isn’t that tragic? In a world that God created with enough for all of us, and to spare, eight million people die each year, for no other reason, but that they are too poor to stay alive! What are we going to say to the Lord on the day when He says to us, “I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink . . . Because you did it not to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” (Matthew 25: 42, 45)?
Church of the living God, can we sit back and say nothing, do nothing, as we see entire generations, in many of the countries in Africa, being wiped out by the AIDS virus, while unnecessary billions are being spent to fight wars without a just cause? Or, “Will we have the good judgment to use our wealth wisely, to heal a divided planet, to end the suffering of those still trapped by poverty, and to forge a common bond of humanity, security, and shared purpose across cultures and regions” (3)?
May God have mercy upon us!