The Cause of the Poor and Needy

Jeremiah 22:14-16

¹⁴ who says, ‘I will build myself a big house with large upper rooms. I will cut out its windows, cover it with cedar and color it bright red.’ ¹⁵ Do you become a king by trying to build better houses of cedar? Did not your father eat and drink? He did what was right and fair and good, so all went well with him. ¹⁶ He spoke strong words in the cause of the poor and those in need, and so all went well. Is not that what it means to know Me?” says the Lord

You don’t have to look far on the internet to find a huge cross-reference list from the Bible that talks about the poor and needy. History would shine a light on whole groups of people taking a vow of poverty for life or living like nuns did in the Catholic Church. Monks make a lifetime vow of poverty and even silence in some cases—all in a quest to know God. If we had to become poor and needy to get to know God, then why did Jesus die on the cross? He could have just become poor and needy as an example. Furthermore, how is being poor and needy something we all want? If this were the case, no one, or only a select few, would ever believe in Jesus.

Jeremiah, along with many other scriptures, talks about taking up the cause of the poor and needy. Solomon was not poor or needy, yet he authored three books in the Bible and was called the wisest man who ever walked the earth. David was not poor or needy, yet he was called a man after God’s own heart. So being poor and needy cannot be the only way to get close to God. The late Pat Robertson of the 700 Club was a blessed man, and if you read his autobiography, he was far from having nothing. On the contrary, Mother Teresa was poor, ministered to many people, and was thought of as a saint, she was a nun.

So being poor and needy is not a prerequisite for knowing God or walking with Him. So what was God talking about in Jeremiah 22:16? The cause of the poor and needy can mean so many different things, we could write a book just about that. For today, we can define the cause of the poor and needy through Jesus and His sacrifice for a world that did not and could never deserve it. He was God in flesh, sent to die for our sins and give us a template of what it means to live our lives following Christ. If God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, I can assure you that Jesus did not live poor and beg for bread. He fed 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread and fish. In fact, David said that he had never seen the anointed of the Lord poor and begging for bread (Psalm 37:25).

So Jesus is our template for life. You never find the Lord in poverty, just like you can never find happiness in money. Yes, people are poor and live a meager life, but we have plenty of examples in the Bible that point to knowing the Lord as taking up the cause of the poor and needy, not being poor and needy. So your homework for life is to commit to getting to know Jesus. Read the Gospels, listen to sermons on Jesus, and get to know Him. I don’t believe someone was at the foot of the cross reading off the sins of the world like in a courtroom before Jesus passed away. No, He showed us the ultimate cause of the poor and needy, the cross.

We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are the needy, we need a Savior. If you want to get to know the Lord Jesus and begin your investigation of the cause of the poor and needy, Jesus said it best: “Take up your cross and follow Me!” (Matthew 16:24-26). If we cannot personalize the cross, we will never find Jesus. The cross represents the fact that Jesus gave us a voice when we did not have one in heaven. Paul says that he no longer lives, but Christ lives in him. Where is your cross?

Prayer: Father, way too often we try to become holy by doing things here on this earth. The only thing we have to do is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will be saved. Nothing we can do, becoming poor, giving a bunch of money, or going to church every Sunday—will ever get us close to the Lord. Those things can be good, but I pray that we find You in the Bible, Your holy word, and not in any repeated task or possession. I pray that we take up our cross and follow You, Lord, in the same way You did for all of humanity when we did not even deserve it. I pray that we stop trying to work our way to holiness and simply believe and submit our lives to You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.