When you confess that you’re spiritually empty, you have the riches of God’s grace. So blessed are you if you are poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is yours.
SHAUNA: This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. And you know, Joni, the Bible talks about being poor in spirit. That’s always been such an interesting phrase to me. How do you define that?
JONI: Well, a little back story perhaps on it. Psalm 74:21 says, “Let the poor and needy praise your name.”
SHAUNA: Okay, okay, so when you hear that verse, who do you think of?
JONI: Well, you might think of an elderly widow, of [I don’t know] a mother in Bangladesh, or a single person who lives in low-income housing. But King David writes in Psalm 86, “Answer me, Lord, for I am poor and needy.” Now, I can identify with all of this, and I don’t live in Bangladesh. I’m not living in Section 8 housing. And I’m not even a king like David. But I am, wouldn’t you agree Shauna, aren’t you poor and needy? Virtually every morning I wake up poor and needy and knowing I am spiritually empty. I need filling. I need help from heaven to face the day, knowing that there’s a bed bath awaiting me, toileting routines, getting dressed, having someone lift me into a wheelchair. Day, after day, after day. And so I start the day poor and needy. But, oh, does Jesus fill me and it’s why I do love his words in Matthew 5, “Blessed are the poor of spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Oh, oh, when I ask the Lord to fill my emptiness, it’s as though he pours the kingdom of heaven right into my soul. And my poverty turns to riches, my need overflows with his favor and grace.
You know, I remember J.I. Packer saying years ago that to be poor in spirit is to come to God in empty-handed spiritual poverty. You know, his words make me think of the woman who had that hemorrhage in Scripture; you know how she stretched out her hand knowing she was poor and needy and completely spent. And Jesus touched her. He ministered to her.
And I love what the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs writes about being poor and needy. Listen to what he said hundreds of years ago. He asked, “What are the marks of the poor in spirit? Well, (1.) [They] think it a small thing if others receive more respect and honor. They have no cause for envy or to be troubled. It is rather a wonder what they do have. They trust God’s providence. (2.) And secondly, they admire every little good they receive, considering it much. They wonder at every affliction that it is not more, and are thankful for every mercy. … the poor in spirit do not murmur and repine, but wonder that God lays his hand so tenderly upon them as he does. (3.) Next, the poor in spirit are praying men. They cannot live without prayer, and must go day after day to seek God. They are admirers and great extollers of grace. Whatever they have, they look upon that grace as undeserved. Next, the poor in spirit are emptied of self. Whatever they have in themselves, or whatever they do, they are sensible of their own poverty. And they are willing for God to choose their condition. Their comforts, abilities, worth, and wages can be safely left wholly to God: ‘Here I am, let God do with me as he wills. I lie at his mercy.’ And finally, the poor in spirit are willing to wait. Though God does not come according to their desires, still they are content to wait upon God.”
Oh, friend, if you are a fan of Jeremiah Burroughs, then perhaps you would like a copy of these words. How can folks get that, Shauna?
SHAUNA: Well, just go to joniradio.org and click on the tab that mentions transcripts, and you’ll have this entire entry by John Burroughs to read and reread. And we pray that you’ll see yourself as poor and needy, just like us. Having empty-handed spiritual poverty. Because when we acknowledge our emptiness, God is there to fill us. And when we confess our poverty, we have the riches of his grace. So blessed are you if you are poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is yours.
JONI: Amen!
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