Proverbs 22:2
"The rich and the poor have a common bond, the Lord is the maker of them all"
This is a proverb that is easy to overlook. Solomon is speaking really to the heart of the person who is rich. The rich are not made out of different stuff than those who are poor. God is the maker of both.
What He really says is also hidden under the translator’s words. The actual Hebrew words read rich and poor meet maker all The Lord. The most readable literal translation would be rich and poor meet, the Lord is the maker of both.
The word maker is the word asah which is to make, to do, to produce. There is richness that can be seen in the implications of these ideas. Remember that this seems obvious, but there is a reason why Solomon took note of it and why God thought it was significant enough to make the Scriptures.
There is a tendency on the part of the rich to forget two things: One, that they are the same as the poor person; they just have abundance while the poor person has less than they need. Second, the rich person tends to forget that they will meet the poor person in front of the judgment seat of God. There will be a judgment day in which their deeds and the poor person's deeds will be evaluated for their selfishness or sin content. They both will face the same God and money will have nothing to do with it.
The rich person tends to forget these two things. It is important to remember these and not believe that you are somehow fundamentally different from the person who cannot generate an abundance of money.
The definition of poor is that they have less than they need to live. It is not that they have less than they want or less than an arbitrary amount that society says is enough. They have less than what they need to eat, clothe, and shelter themselves. The rich are those who have more than they need to eat, more than they need to clothe themselves, and more than they need to shelter themselves. According to this definition, there are many more rich people in this culture than people think. It is important for them not to believe that they are somehow better or fundamentally different from those who are poor. It is also important for all to realize that there is a judgment day coming when all a person's thoughts, motives, words, attitudes, and deeds will be evaluated by the Almighty. It is a sobering thought – which should make us run into the arms of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz