“All the brethren of the poor do hate him: how much more do his friends go far from him? he pursueth them with words, yet they are wanting to him” (Proverbs 19:7).

There is often loneliness in poverty.  Even when the poor aren’t asking for help, often their friends and relatives will avoid them out of guilt that they aren’t helping them, out of regret that they can’t, or sometimes out of a vague fear of unhappiness.

We often cannot solve the poverty, but perhaps we can at least help the loneliness.

Another from today’s chapter in Proverbs:  “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again” (Proverbs 19:17).