Isaiah 3:14 "The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: 'It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses.'"

Although this is addressed to the princess and elders of Isaiah's time, I think we can take a lesson from it, too, since many of us enjoy a standard of living that far exceeds that of the vast majority of people for all of human history. As I read this, I thought of the ongoing issues I am having with my new cell phone. I had an old Samsung that was working fine, but recently allowed myself to be talked into trading it in for the newest and best iPhone. I've had nothing but problems since trying the iPhone, and I'm now trying to switch back to another old Samsung. As with any technology when it is not working as expected, the whole process has taken up an inordinate amount of my time and caused immense frustration. But this verse brought me up short. It made me look at the array of phones I am having trouble choosing between, and think "The spoil of the poor is in my house, and God is teaching me a lesson with it!" 

I don't know about Samsung, but I have read that iPhones are made in China with what amounts to practically slave labor. It is so wrong, and one of the thing that I hope the current "trade war" might have a hand in fixing a bit. So the spoil of the poor is most definitely in my house. To be honest, it is a difficult thing to live in this country and culture and not have the spoil of the poor in my house! There is only so much I can control, though. I need a phone to function in this world, and I can't dictate where or how each phone is made. But knowing what I know about iPhones, and having a perfectly working, if old and outdated, phone to begin with, I should not have let myself be tempted by the promise of a shiny, state-of-the-art, new phone. Now that I have, I am "suffering" for it in a most first world way, I am embarrassed to admit.

Thanks to reading this verse from Isaiah this moring, I am seeing this as a good lesson for me to live simply, and not be attracted by or feel I have to have the best new thing, especially when it comes from the true suffering of the poor.