Sneaking in Plain Sight

(Pro 6:11 KJV)  So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

I keep hearing mantras about how many elderly are living hand to mouth.  They don’t have enough income to pay the bills.  My favorite was the bit about eating cat food to stay alive.  I like that because, if it were true, it would underline the problem:  Bad choices.  

The previous verse talks about taking a nap when you should be working.  This expands in a different direction.  The picture here is that “poverty” will just casually walk in and sit down.  It won’t be a calamity like a stock market crash.  It will be the result of unnumbered days of refusing to save a nickle because “life is too short”.  For many people it is long enough to make you run out of nickles.

My parents went into their retirement years with little income except for Social Security.  They managed to get by.  They did a lot of driving.  They visited and were visited by family.  They had their medical needs taken care of, which involved surgery and chemo.  How did they do it?  They made sure their house was paid off and bought things on sale.  I know it can be done because they did it.  When I hear about people who have nothing I know that the usual reason is because they never denied themselves anything.

So?  Poverty is real.  Some people are genuinely the victims of tragedy.  Most people are victims of leaving the door standing open and wondering how the flies got in.  Give God a chance to provide.