Spiritual Poverty

  Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. 7 Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. 9  How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11  and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Proverbs 6:6-11 (ESV)

What do you and ants have in common. Well a lot more than you might think especially if you call yourself a Christian. You see ants are very productive creatures and they are always busily working to achieve one thing; the gathering of food for the future and survival of their homes and the ants of their kind. What we can learn from the ant is the most important part of our Christian walk. That one idea or concept is that we are to be busily working in order to avoid starvation and poverty. Now we can say it is a physical need but it is actually the spiritual need I feel like we need to address. To many of us are walking through life living in Spiritual Poverty; it occurs when we are not spending enough time in God’s word and even more often we are not doing the work He has gifted us for or called us to.  Instead we are sitting back treating our salvation as fire insurance. God has called us to be about His work; as the sons and daughters of God we should do what is pleasing to our father. The scripture tells us that if we are lazy and are allowing ourselves to sleep poverty and want will come on us like a robber and it will beat us down. In the Vulgate there is a continuation of Verse 11 and it reads, “if thou wilt be diligent, they harvest will be as a fountain and poverty shall flee far away from thee.” I do not know why it is not recorded in the King James or modern translations. But it is a simple direction and understanding of what we should be doing. We need to spend time working with God if we want to know Him better; instead of our asking Him to be with us and doing what we desire all the time. Have a blessed day as you walk in the light of God’s Word.