When There is Nothing Else, There is God...

Our God is a God of compassion. Our God is a God who is on the side of the helpless and the needy. Our western culture teaches us that weakness is generally a bad thing; that we should be self-sufficient and strong. But the Bible says,...

"Happy (blessed) is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever, executing justice for the exploited and giving food to the hungry. The lord frees prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are oppressed. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects foreigners and helps the fatherless and the widow,..." (Psalm 146:5-9)

This Psalm foreshadows Jesus' proclamation in Luke 6:20 where He says, "You who are poor are blessed, because the kingdom of God is yours..." Conversely, in Luke 6:26, He pronounces woes to the rich saying, "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort..."

I am convinced that I rob myself many times of the blessings of God because I am so apt to trust in my own resources, my own ways and my own abilities. I tremble at the thought of losing everything so that I can be totally dependent on Him and nothing else. I pray that if life does come to the point where all it lost, I will have the faith that says, "Blessed be the Lord,...my help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

When I see the beggar on the side of the road here in the USA and oversees, many times I am tempted to say, "there but for the grace of God go I."

Maybe I should instead say, "If there go I, may I still trust in the grace of God"...

"Blessed you who are poor..."