Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Today we begin a new season of devotions based on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:1?3 tells us that “when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. The first thing He said was:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

What a strange way to start a message. Blessed are the poor in spirit. How can poverty be a good condition for anybody? It doesn’t feel like something to aspire to. But Jesus is at the beginning of something important. This sermon, found in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7 is about to shock some, pack many surprise punches, and introduce his hearers to a very new kind of world. He is going to shatter the ideas people have about faith and religion and show them what God is really like.

And he kicks off with this: to have any hope of entering into God’s Kingdom ? the Kingdom of Heaven, you have to be poor in spirit. You have to know you need God.

This is not a new idea. Back to the Old Testament we heard the call to:

Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. (1 Chronicles 16:8-11, italics mine)

This is Asaph, the chief of musicians leading the singing of praise to God, after King David had defeated the Philistines, and the ark of the Covenant was returned to Jerusalem amid great celebration. Asaph exhorted everyone present to seek God’s face. Always.

What might it mean to seek God’s face?

At another moment in David’s life, he prayed, “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, LORD, I will seek” (Psalms 27:8). David recognised the yearning in his own heart for the presence and wisdom of God. Perhaps the first step in seeking God’s face is to recognise how spiritually poor we are without Him. To listen our own heart’s cry for the living God.

In Psalm 63, David describes his search for God like a man desperate for water in a hot, dry desert:

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. (Psalms 63:1)

Then, following this description, he moves to worship. He sings from the depths of his heart, and he prays every time he wakes in the night.

What better picture can there be of a person who is poor in spirit? As we have said, those who are poor in spirit are those who know their need of God. They are desperate enough to seek his face. In every part of their lives, they know they are dependent on God’s love, His mercy, His strength and His guidance. The poor in spirit are not ashamed to recognise their weaknesses and look to God for help.

And Jesus describes such a person as blessed because they will know and experience God’s Kingdom.