Is spiritual poverty a judgement on leaders at work?

Tags

Faith at Work, Jesus, Poor in Spirit

Here are some thought-provoking scriptures on being poor in spirit.

Amos 8:11 (CSB) — 11 Look, the days are coming— this is the declaration of the Lord God— when I will send a famine through the land: not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
Psalm 51:11 (CSB) — 11 Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Psalm 74:9 (CSB) — 9 There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer a prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.
Lamentations 2:9 (CSB) — 9 Zion’s gates have fallen to the ground; he has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates. Her king and her leaders live among the nations, instruction is no more, and even her prophets receive no vision from the Lord.
Ezekiel 7:26 (CSB) — 26 Disaster after disaster will come, and there will be rumor after rumor. Then they will look for a vision from a prophet, but instruction will perish from the priests and counsel from the elders.
Matthew 13:14–15 (CSB) — 14 Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You will listen and listen, but never understand; you will look and look, but never perceive. 15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back— and I would heal them.
Revelation 2:5 (CSB) — 5 Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

The great leader David recognized he was poor and needy.

Psalm 40:17 (CSB) — 17 I am oppressed and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my helper and my deliverer; my God, do not delay.
Psalm 34:6 (CSB) — 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles.
Psalm 35:10 (CSB) — 10 All my bones will say, “Lord, who is like you, rescuing the poor from one too strong for him, the poor or the needy from one who robs him?”
Psalm 70:5 (CSB) — 5 I am oppressed and needy; hurry to me, You are my help and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay.
Psalm 86:1 (CSB) — 1 Listen, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
Psalm 109:22 (CSB) — 22 For I am suffering and needy; my heart is wounded within me.

Leaders know that God will satisfy, save & accept the poor in spirit.

God will satisfy the poor in spirit
- Matthew 5:6 (CSB) — 6 Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
God will save the poor in spirit
- Psalm 116:6 (CSB) — 6 The Lord guards the inexperienced; I was helpless, and he saved me.
God will accept the poor in spirit
- Psalm 51:17 (CSB) — 17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.
- Isaiah 66:2 (CSB) — 2 My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.