Better the poor whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse. – Proverbs 19:1

Today's Scripture Reading (November 16, 2022): Proverbs 19

Mahatma Gandhi often had a way of pointing us toward important things. One of these important things that Gandhi taught was that "there are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread." Poverty is a reality in this world and a problem that all of us must try to solve. Unfortunately, our reaction to poverty often is to blame the one who is poor. We believe that poor people lack wealth because they have an uncontrollable spending problem. We condemn the poor because they are lazy, undisciplined, or sometimes even that this is their preferred way of living.

Undoubtedly, some poor are a few or all of these things. That doesn't mean we are absolved from the responsibility to help those living without the means to care for themselves. And it also doesn't mean that all those living in poverty do so because of their actions. Some are poor for no fault of their own. They are poor even though they have done everything right, and their walk is blameless

Proverbs can actually be quite harsh about the fate of those living in poverty. Consider some of the pronouncements of Solomon. "Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth (Proverbs 10:4). Or maybe "One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty" (Proverbs 11:24). "Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored" (Proverbs 13:18). And "all hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty" (Proverbs 14:23). Yet, at the beginning of Proverbs 1, even Solomon recognizes that not all are poor because of their own failure. Sometimes, poverty is a result of circumstances outside of anyone's control.

What is confusing about this verse in Proverbs is that it does not really contrast opposite conditions. Here, Proverbs teaches that poverty is better than being a fool. We might expect that the Proverb might read, "Better the poor whose walk is blameless than a rich person whose lips are perverse." And we can think of many examples in our current society of the wealthy whose lips are rebellious and unhelpful. But that is not the comparison here. The contrast is between the poor and the fool. The real sin here, for both the poor and the rich, is playing the part of the fool.

Or maybe it is that the poor always deserve our help and are worthy of receiving bread regardless of the situation that explains their poverty. But the fool is the one who refuses to recognize that reality, and they keep the bread to themselves.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Proverbs 20