Proverbs 13:23

This verse from Proverbs — a collection of wise sayings written largely during ancient Israel's monarchy — makes a striking admission: hard work does not always lead to kept rewards. A poor farmer's land might be incredibly productive, yielding more than enough to feed a family. But when corrupt officials, powerful landlords, dishonest rulers, or outright theft enter the picture, that abundance can be stripped away overnight. The verse is a rare moment in Proverbs where poverty is not linked to laziness or poor choices, but to injustice — forces outside a person's control that take what was rightfully earned.

Lord, forgive me for the times I've quietly assumed that people's hardship was simply their own fault. Open my eyes to the injustices that steal from the vulnerable. Give me the courage not just to feel something, but to actually do something about it. Amen.

Most wisdom traditions throughout history have treated financial struggle as a personal failing — work harder, plan better, make smarter decisions. Proverbs is often read that way too, as a book full of tidy cause-and-effect moral equations. So it's jarring when it stops and says: sometimes a person does everything right and still ends up with nothing. Not because they were careless. Because the system ate their harvest. That should unsettle you a little — and maybe change how you pray, how you vote, and how you listen to the people around you who are struggling. Before you assume someone's poverty tells you something about their character, this verse asks you to pause and ask what might have been swept away from them — a predatory loan, a wage that never kept pace, a system quietly tilted against them from the start. Where in your circle of influence do you have the power to prevent injustice from taking what rightfully belongs to someone else?