One's Wealth (or Lack) Does Not Determine One's Sense

Scripture Verses that Caught My Attention Today: Jeremiah 5:4-5 Then I said, “These are only the poor,
they have no sense;
for they do not know the way of the LORD,
the law of their God.
5 Let me go to the rich
and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the LORD,
the law of their God.”
But they all alike had broken the yoke,
they had burst the bonds.

Observation: There was belief in ancient times that poor people had no sense.

Application: Part of me recoils at the thought of judging whether or not people have sense by whether they are rich or poor. By the same token, I can see their point; scams and ‘businesses’ that exploit the poor are largely ‘successful.’ Recently I learned of an auction house that ‘helps’ people sell their belongings if need be. What commission does the ‘service’ charge? Thirty-Five percent! I doubt that many ‘rich’ people would use such a service.

Still, that’s not the whole story. Some time ago there was a sister (not one of my own) who was making arrangements for her brother (a doctor) to be guardian of her children should something ever happen to her and her husband. The lawyer involved mentioned that doctors, as a general rule, are not always good at managing their finances. Certainly that’s not true of all doctors, of course. But it was an interesting observation. Wealth does not always translate into having ‘sense,’ at least financially.

Of course, these days we know that one can have tremendous ‘sense’ in one aspect of life and hardly any ‘sense’ in another aspect of life. It’s the human condition and it’s not based on being rich or poor. Jeremiah observed the same thing way back when, though for some reason he seems surprised.

Prayer: Lord, help all of us to find more sense through you, regardless of our relative wealth or lack thereof. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: Jeremiah 5-6 and John 12)