House of Hope Online

August 2, 2026

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Thanks to my son Will, I found myself in the Book of Ecclesiastes when the Lord spoke into my spirit about this week’s word.  King Solomon was searching for the meaning of life in his old age.  He served God well as King of Israel for most of his life but ended poorly because he married many pagan wives and then began to serve their gods.  Nevertheless, in his old age, Solomon made some observations about life and what he had seen while he was king.

What the Lord impressed upon me for today came in Ecclesiastes 4:1 where Solomon acknowledged the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them.

Ecclesiastes 4:

 1 ¶ Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold [I saw] the tears of the oppressed and [that] they had no one to comfort [them;] and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort [them.] (NASB)

It is interesting that King Solomon would have been in position to help the oppressed.  Perhaps he regretted not doing more for the poor, the oppressed, and the downtrodden.

God Sees the Oppressed

In any event, it is fair to conclude from Ecclesiastes 4:1 that the tears of the oppressed make their way to Heaven, where God sees them and desires to lift the oppression.  He has been speaking to us in recent weeks about those who are oppressed and depressed, so I know it is on His heart.

In Luke 4, Jesus read from Isaiah 61, which is a tremendous prophecy that He would one day come and be anointed to free the downtrodden.

Luke 4:

 14 ¶ And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.

 15 And He [began] teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

 16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,

 18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE DOWNTRODDEN,

 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

 20 And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him.

 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

We see in verse 18 that Jesus is anointed to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom to captives, healing of the blind, and freedom to the downtrodden.  That means the heart of God is with those who are captive to the schemes of the devil, those who are blind to the word of faith, and those who are depressed.

Isaiah had other prophecies that the Lord would be moved to dry tears.

Isaiah 25:

 8 He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.

And we know from John’s vision on the Island of Patmos, that the Lord will come again and dry tears personally.

Revelation 21:

 1 ¶ And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer [any] sea.

 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them,

 4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be [any] death; there shall no longer be [any] mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

 5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

 6 And He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

In the end, when the new Jerusalem is established, God will dwell among us and wipe away every tear.  Death will be abolished!  I’m up for that!

What We Can Do

In the meantime, while we wait for the Lord and the establishment of the new Heaven and new earth, what can we do? 

The point of Solomon’s lament is that there was no one to comfort those who are oppressed.  The word of God makes clear He desires us to comfort the oppressed while we wait on the Lord to come and dry the tears one last time.

Psalms 41:

 1 ¶ (For the choir director. A Psalm of David.) How blessed is he who considers the helpless; The LORD will deliver him in a day of trouble.

 2 The LORD will protect him, and keep him alive, And he shall be called blessed upon the earth; And do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.

 3 The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed; In his illness, Thou dost restore him to health.

If we consider the helpless, the Lord will deliver us in our day of trouble.  He will protect us and keep us alive.  Praise God! 

Proverbs 19 promises the Lord will repay our graciousness.

Proverbs 19:

 17 ¶ He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed.

And Deuteronomy 26 prescribes the tithe of the increase to benefit the poor.

Deuteronomy 26:

 12 ¶ “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns, and be satisfied.

 13 “And you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred [portion] from [my] house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Thy commandments which Thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Thy commandments.

The Levite represents your pastor, who feeds you the word of God.  The stranger represents the homeless, and along with the orphan and the widow would be among the poor who are on God’s heart.  God wants His church to feed the poor and the oppressed.  He wants His church to have a storehouse like Joseph had in Egypt during the famine.

Malachi 3 promises that God will open the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing on us if we pay the tithe and allow there to be food in His storehouse for the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the homeless.

Malachi 3:

 10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

 11 “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast [its grapes],” says the LORD of hosts.

Note that the Lord intends His church to be a storehouse.  Now a storehouse holds the surplus for times of famine.  His house is a place where ample and abundant provisions reside.  It’s a storehouse. It holds inventory, which is surplus to current need.  The church is not supposed to be poor.

Closing

After considering everything under the sun that he had seen in his life, Solomon closes Ecclesiastes with some advice for us.

Ecclesiastes 12:

 13 ¶ The conclusion, when all has been heard, [is:] fear God and keep His commandments, because this [applies to] every person.

 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Solomon concluded that we should fear God and keep His commandments, which include the directives to pay tithes, be gracious to the poor, and consider the helpless.

Let us look and see the tears of the oppressed.  Let us comfort them as we await the Coming King Jesus!

Let us pray.

Father God, Your word is compassionate toward all, but especially toward the oppressed and downtrodden in our society.  Quicken us by the Holy Spirit to have Your heart toward the helpless and to be gracious to the poor.  Convict us to be faithful in tithing, so that Your storehouse would have an excess for the less fortunate.  In Jesus’ name, we ask this thing.  Amen.

If anyone has not yet received the Lord Jesus Christ in their heart, and desires to do so, please repeat this prayer after me:

Father God, I repent of my sin and ask for forgiveness today.  I confess and declare with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and I believe with all my heart that You raised Him from the dead for the forgiveness of sins.  Jesus, please come into my heart and change me.  Send the Holy Spirit to guide and direct me in wisdom and to enable me to overcome temptation from this day forth.  Thank You for my salvation.  I look forward to the day of the Rapture when I can be with You forever.  Amen.