Have you read what Deuteronomy 15:4 said? There Moses told the Jews, "There should be no poor among you, for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land He is giving you as a special possession."
How many times have we heard preachers say "Blessed are the poor because the Lord is with them." But this contradicts the verse we just read. It implies that if God is with you, you will not become poor because He will greatly bless you. If this is the case then why are there many poor people around us? I believe the verse that follows it explains why.
Deuteronomy 15:5 says, "You will receive this blessing IF you are careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today."
In the past I thought the reason why many Filipinos are poor is because many of them are lazy. But I have heard foreigners say they see Filipinos are dedicated and hard-working. So, why then are we poor? Verse 5 implies that God will only bless those who are careful to obey all the commandments He gives.
Does this mean we need to convert to a specific religion? No! Because a person's religion does not determine his obedience. You see, to obey is a personal decision. Are the commandments we need to obey related to the church or the temple? No! Because the temple was not constructed yet and only the Levite were assigned to take care of the tabernacle. On the other hand, the rest of the Jews were told to till the land.
The commandments God gave us do not make us spiritually holy, instead, they make us holy by teaching us how to do business, how to take care of our family, how to deal with our neighbors, etc. In fact, Joshua 1:8 tells us that the Book of the Law will allow us to prosper if we carefully follow the instructions (torah) God gave us. The Bible is really an instruction or operating manual. If you do not do what it says you will fail and become poor because you did not follow its instructions.
God gave us the Book of the Law so that He can bless us when we follow them. But when we reject His laws we will fail and eventually become poor. God loves the poor but He does not want them to remain poor. He sent Jesus to reconcile them to Himself and gave them His laws so that they can get out of their predicament and later become a blessing to the world.
