A Lecture on Abundance

Proverbs 13:23 (KJV) Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.

There’s a theme going through this chapter in Proverbs.  It’s expressed many different ways.  It’s the idea that there is adequate resource in our world to take care of the needs of the people in it.  In response to that there are many reasons given for why people don’t have what they need.

This one is pretty indirect in one sense.  In another is very clear.  The NASB talks about oppression, which is another way of saying that there was no correct judgment.  The policies of government and the actions of the wealthy and powerful create conditions which really work against the benefit of common people.  Here the common people are identified as the poor.  In this case, it looks like they are the working, or deserving, poor.  They have the land.  They have the ability to produce food, but it is made impossible by social forces.

Another part of that is that sometimes people are too willing to take the handout of government and it siphons off any initiative and productivity they might have.  We’ve seen that in the recent restrictions on the welfare being given out by the government.  People have been conditioned to dependence.  They didn’t know how to function anymore when the government removed it’s helping hand.

So?  Be aware of the need for government responsibility but also the call for each and every one of us to do our part in providing for ourselves in our families.