Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith?
One of the things that our modern society does is make us independent of God. Perhaps a welfare state has a certain amount of good in what it was designed for, but for a Christian it can be bad inasmuch as we rely on the system of man more than the care of God when we run into hard times. In other, less wealthy countries where Christians are dirt poor, their faith in God is remarkable. James found it so and this is still true today. Oh that we would all trust in God when times are tough. He has a special interest in His own and cares very much for our well-being.