“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God” (Matthew 5:3).

In fact, we typically associate the word poor with something that is lacking, undesirable, or negative. But when Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God,” we need to pay special attention to the fact that Jesus said: “Blessed.”

The term blessed expresses a state of “divine happiness” and in Hebrew translates as ashrei, which means “fortunate” or “the good life.” So how could anything poor ever be good or a blessing?

Friend, we need to understand and really “hear” what Yeshua meant by His words. Once we do, it will open our understanding to a whole new dimension that is available to each one of us. Remember—

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9).

Here is what Yeshua was saying—

Blessed are those who stop placing all of their confidence in just their abilities. 

Blessed are those who have come to the end of themselves. 

Blessed are those who understand that they do not have all the answers. 

Blessed are those who realize that they are empty inside and begin to look beyond themselves.

Thus, the blessing of the kingdom begins when we come to a place where we disregard our personal agendas, start looking beyond the natural and cry out for help. It is the place where we finally realize that in and of ourselves, we will never have all of the answers.

Let’s consider the Apostle Paul’s words when he found himself totally spent and thus—poor in spirit.

“We were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8).

In other words, his life was beyond hard. There was such agony that he was feeling that he despaired even of life. My friend, some of us have thought that walking with Jesus should be easy but the Lord uses hard times to strengthen us, bring us into maturity and bless us. There was a divine purpose for Paul’s circumstance. And the same is true for many of us.

Listen to what Paul says next: 

“Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9).

Beloved, this is a kingdom perspective. This is what Jesus was referring to: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

We cannot be filled with the power of God until we come to the end of relying on ourselves and instead wholeheartedly rely on Him. We come to a place like Paul did, where we are exhausted and weary of life itself. We come to a place where we cannot find within ourselves what we need. Nobody has the answer—not the doctors, the lawyers, our friends—no one can help us, and as a result we turn completely to Him. At this point we have become poor in spirit. And then Father fills us with His power and we begin to enter into the realities and the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

Love & Shalom,
Rabbi