Tiny Devotional for RED Friday, 11-19-2021

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, Remember Everyone Deployed!

All the brothers of a poor person hate him;
How much more do his friends abandon him!
Proverbs 19:7, NASB


The ancient words in the Book of Proverbs always seem current to me. Sometimes, the application comes from the guy sitting in my chair (me); other times, I look a bit further.

I really don’t like this verse.
Not because I think it’s wrong!
I don’t like it, because I fear/believe it’s expressing a truth about attitudes toward poor people that apply just as much today as they ever did. 
(I insist on ignoring contemporary political references; sometimes, that’s difficult.)

In my prep for today’s devotional, I made a list of why people hate a poor brother. I was up to six reasons, with more on the way, when I realized this word summed them all up: 

threat

The poorest person in the world might be a subsistence farmer in Sokoto. Do you hate them? No; that person is no threat to you, nor can they be; not unless someone decides to use their cause as a bludgeon to extort money from you, or from your government.

What threat can a poor person offer? I saw two answers, in my partial list of six reasons:

  • They make me feel bad.
  • They might take my stuff.

Possible responses:

  • We can ignore the poor. They are used to that. 
  • Better, though, to ignore those who are using the poor, and fear of the poor, to gain power for themselves. 
  • Better yet, we can support places providing direct services to those in need. I’ve chosen  THIS ONE and THIS ONE.


Peace be on your household.

Comments

  1. Vanessa PattersonNovember 19, 2021 at 6:53 AM

    Preach Pastor Pat

    ReplyDelete
  2. Moose45RiderNovember 19, 2021 at 8:46 AM

    Fear is the mind killer. Ignorance is the sibling of fear. It is only through knowledge that someone can learn to love.

    ReplyDelete
  3. On Christ the Solid Rock I StandNovember 21, 2021 at 7:32 AM

    Wonderful points to remember my Brother Pat, yes we can support places providing direct services to those in need. Praise God!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jennifer EmioheNovember 22, 2021 at 6:41 PM

    Great points!

    ReplyDelete

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