We do need the discipline of simple obedience, in this regard as in many others. But with God, as with parents and the rearing of their children, obedience is not a life sentence, it is an investment. There is an economy of obedience: rote obedience in prescribed things leads to a transformed person, one whom God can bless with wisdom, effectiveness, and even a measure of autonomy. When we are obedient, God will give us answers He would not otherwise trust us with—tell us, in the words recorded by Jeremiah, "great and unsearchable things which [we] do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3, NIV).
God does promise to bless and provide for the needs of those who give themselves in obedience to His commands. In the matter of tithing, for example, He tells the Israelites in Malachi 3:8-12 that they are under a curse because they have failed to bring their tithes as required by the Law. But if they will return to obedience, He says, He will "throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." In Proverbs 19:17, He offers this promise: "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done."
When God tells us to discipline ourselves against a human tendency—like covetousness or invidious interest in our neighbors' incomes—He doesn't leave us to do so in discouragement: weary and mentally burdened and unfulfilled. He has much better things in store for us than that. His promises and His bounty are not things men can organize to guarantee at each other's expense, nor can we skip the step of humble obedience and go straight to the rewards. But the guaranteed "end-state" for obedience and trust is the blessing awaiting us on the other side.
In this sense, taking on the income-inequality argument is a test of faith for Christians. We are pretty good at trusting God's law enough to tell people what they shouldn't be doing. But do we trust God's character and track record enough to tell people that there's a far superior alternative to the crude idea of organizing politically against income inequality?
Do we believe that the best thing for poor people is knowing God and committing their hearts to His precepts? Are we fully certain that if they dwell in the shelter of the Most High, as promised in Psalm 91, a thousand may fall at their side, and ten thousand at their right hand, but the peril will not come near them? Are we confident that the wealth of others doesn't matter to any purpose God has for us—that it is just another item on the list of things covered by Philippians 4:6, which encourages us to "not be anxious about anything" but "with thanksgiving" to "present our requests to God"?
Most importantly, do we recognize that it is at least as necessary for our fellow men to hear a positive, encouraging message about these things as it is to be told that they must not covet or eyeball other people's incomes? If ever there were a time to open our eyes in this regard, it's now. In 2011, even many of the most politically committed in our society find their assumptions crumbling and their ideas in disarray.
Now is the time to offer them more than rebuke. Now is the time to offer them something better.
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