September 5

A prayer of David. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. — Ps 86:1 BSB

No matter what deliverance a person has experienced, even if they’ve been rescued from the depths of hell and placed on solid ground, the Holy Spirit will continue to work in them throughout their life, making them “poor and needy.” Only as we recognize our own poverty and neediness will we truly desire to know, in a personal way, the riches of Jesus Christ and experience the consolations that only the Spirit of God can give to a soul that is thirsty and parched. How many do we find today who are “rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing,” yet they constantly speak and boast of the riches of Christ? But how can they truly know Christ’s riches? His riches are for the “poor and needy”; his blood is for the guilty; his righteousness is for the naked; his perfect work and finished salvation is for those who constantly rely on his powerful arm to save them from the lowest depths. No matter what ideas people may have about Christ’s riches, his blood and righteousness, and his glorious salvation, only those who are spiritually “poor and needy” truly value it. They long for it with deep yearning and desire to live on it as the very food of their soul. They cry out to God continually for its sweet manifestation and are restless, uneasy, and unsatisfied without the joy of its enjoyment. Only those who have been stripped and emptied of all that the flesh can boast of and anything that the natural self can take pride in can truly feel this way.