“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts,” declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8-9) This would be true for many, perhaps even myself when reading verses 16 and 17. Wealth is what most societies judge who is high, middle, and low class. Even Christian congregations give prominence and esteem to those who appear financially and materially blessed.
Yet much of his life, David was poor. He had little most of the time and for a while, he had nothing, depending on the charity of others. (1 Samuel 21:3-4) Jesus and the disciples were so poor and hungry that at one point they ate grain reserved for the poor. (Luke 6:1) So did Ruth and Naomi. (Ruth 2:2-3) Elijah also lived on charity of others (1 Kings 17:3) and on one occasion an angel brought him a small cake of bread. (1 Kings 19:6) What did all these have in common? They were righteous in the eyes of God and shunned by society and often the most religious people in their society. Some were wanted dead or alive.
Still here David wrote, “Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked…” This truth is witnessed by the fact that many rich were willing to leave all their wealth behind to follow Jesus. Matthew the tax collector, Zacchaeus the chief tax collector (Luke 19:2), and Simon called Peter his brother Andrew, and James and John left their family businesses to follow Jesus (Luke 18:28; Mark 1:20). Why? Because they saw and believed that being with Jesus was more precious than the wealth of the world. To this day most who follow Jesus are not considered rich by their society. The LORD upholds them for they are his righteous. We are promised, “The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.” (Isaiah 25:8)
