Only God can follow the complicated strands that lead a person to poverty.

Since Bible times and before, weather and geography have much to do with wealth, or lack of it. Presently, in the United States of America, poverty is often caused by more internal things, like one’s health, nutrition, education, and upbringing. But, like famine and flood, the unwarranted loss of those internal things begins to weave the threads of poverty. Abuse, neglect, theft, violence, and drugs thicken the web. Poverty spreads through generations.

Wealth is a web as well.

Having one’s needs met begins with circumstances one can’t control, ancestries one can’t choose. The health of a mother, the safety of a neighborhood, good parenting, nutritious food, supervision, discipline, and early education, are all blessings no one can plan for in their own lives. Though some may work hard, God gives the good connections to make their diligence a success.

The poor and the wealthy share different ends of the same web. By grace, we stand where we do.

In God’s kingdom, giving grows faith. It sheds self. It humbles. It provokes thankfulness. It reminds that money is a tool and not an idol. Those who lend their ears, their hands, their hearts to the poor are a hundredfold blessed.