Digging Deep No. 39 Topic: The Problems of poverty

INTRODUCTION: there has always been poor people in the world, even among Christians Revelation 2:19. Why should Christians ever be poor? What can be done so that no one is ever poor again? What is poverty? What causes it? Is poverty a friend or an enemy of a Christian? These and similar questions shall be answered as we continue with our series on wealth and poverty.

1. Poverty is defined as a desperate shortage of spending power and it is not a new problem. It is also not a problem that can be solved easily unless we follow Divine methods – Duet. 15:11, Prov. 10:15, Matt. 26:11, Deut. 15:1-11.
2. There are several examples of poverty in the Bible. Gideon, the widow of Zarephat, Apostle Paul are but a few examples – Judges 6:15, I Kings 17:12, apostles, II Kings 4:1, Mark 12:42, II Corinthians 6:10.
3. There are three categories of what cause poverty:
i. Personal causes
ii. Human outside causes
iii. Cause beyond the human realm,

? Personal causes include laziness, foolish spending, miserliness, love of pleasure etc – Proverbs 20:13, Prov. 11;24, Prov. 21:17, Prov. 23:21, Prov. 28:19.
? Human outside causes includes bad government, harsh employers, corrupt trading, robbery, wars etc, Isa.3:14, James 5:4, Prov. 22:16, Acts 11:28, Luke 10:30, Ps. 79:1-4.
? Causes beyond human realm include drought, diseases, bad weather, satanic meddling and Divine punishment. I Kings 17:7, Acts 3:1-10, Psalms 78:47, II Corinthians 4:4, I Samuel 2:7.

Poverty cause a lot of problems including national family and social problems. Increase in crime sickness, mental stress, etc. Therefore, poverty is an enemy and it must not accommodate. Since God wants us to prosper III John v2, there is no reason why we must be satisfied with anything less than true prosperity. But how do we handle poverty and its evil greed? This question is answered in the next study.