For the needy shall not always be ignored, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
—Psalm 9:18
Rich secularists have always paid little heed to the poor. And when they do, it seems to be in order to use them for their own purposes. But when people calling themselves Christians lose sight of who they are and Whose they are, when they forget that Jesus' ministry was with, among, and for the poor—that Jesus himself was poor!—then how can we not get discouraged? Where is the
hope of the poor, if those who are called to identify with them instead ignore them—or even scoff at them?
But the promise of the 9th Psalm is the promise of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection: Though it may seem that the hope of the downtrodden has finally surrendered to despair, that the life of the suffering has ended in death, and that the light of justice has in the end been snuffed out, Look! a new morning dawns: Hope is alive! God has not forgotten!
The promise of Easter is not a new suit and a glorious worship service. It is the promise that the coming Kingdom is at hand, that the tables will soon be turned, and that the collusion between religious leaders and the rich who laugh at the poor will soon fall apart like a house of cards in a hurricane.
Of course I pray that I never forget the poor, O God. But dare I pray for poverty itself—that I actually live like the One whose Name I have taken on myself? In his Name, help me to pray aright as he taught me: Our Father...
Crossposted to Psalm Today
