Faith Bible Study Guide
Yes, you are redeemed from the curse of poverty. Some folks think that it is the will of God for a per-son to go through life and not ever have anything. We have heard that taught a lot in days gone by. I’m sorry to say that when I was a young boy I didn’t know
any better than that myself because I didn’t know my Bible any better than that. Some- times it is easier to believe tradition than to believe the Bible. Many times, instead of actually believing the Bible, we believe what we’ve been taught that the Bible says – not what the Bible actually says.
For example, you hear people say all the time, “The Bible teaches that money is the root of all evil.” The Bible doesn’t say that at all! It says the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), and you can be guilty of that sin and not have even one dime! You also hear people say, “I guess I must be another Job,” referring to the calamities and trials of Job as recorded in the Book of Job. Some people think poor old Job went through life poverty stricken, sick, and afflicted, but he didn’t. Most Bible scholars believe the events recorded in the entire Book of Job took place in about nine months’ time.
When the thieves broke in and stole Job’s things, he was in captivity to Satan. When the fire burned up Job’s crops, he was in captivity to Satan. When
the storm came and blew the house down on his children and they were all killed, Job was in captivity to Satan. When Job was smitten with boils from his head to his feet and his wife turned against him and said, “Curse God and die,” Job was in captivity to Satan. But the Bible says that God turned Job’s captivity (Job 42:10)!
In other words, you had better be careful saying you are another Job, because that implies you’ll have to become one of the richest men in the world, just as Job did (Job 1:3)! You’ll have twice as much as you’ve ever had before (Job 42:10,12), and you’ll be healed and live to a good old age, just as Job did (Job 42:16,17).
Job lived a hundred years after the calamities and trials recorded in the Book of Job. You hear folks using the expression, “as poor as Job’s turkey.” Well, Job’s turkeys weren’t poor and I can prove it to you from the Bible. In the first place, the thieves broke in and stole from Job, and if there were turkeys in the flocks of animals that he had, they wouldn’t have stolen the poor ones. In the second place, when God turned Job’s captivity, He gave him twice as much as he had to begin with, so Job had plenty of grain to feed them. So Job’s turkeys weren’t poor, and there is no need for you to be poor either!
But many of us young preachers in days gone by sat around with our eyes shut and our mouths wide open like young mocking birds, and just swallowed everything anyone would poke down us! I remember I lived in poverty for years, and you talk about being on the bottom of the barrel! I wasn’t just scraping the bottom – I was under the barrel, and the barrel was on top of me!
Every time we young preachers would hear a good scripture about material or financial blessings, someone would say, “That’s just for the Jews.” And for years we had little enough sense but to believe it! But one day as I was reading the Bible, I read Galatians 3:13 and 14.
GALATIANS 3:13,14
13 Christ HATH REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.