When all the army officers and their men who were still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor over the land and had put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest in the land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon…

Here is a case for being poor. Since they were not wealthy and powerful, they had nothing to add to the Babylonian Empire. They were left behind. They were not taken as slaves. They had a ruler of their own kind, and they were left to harvest the fruits of their labor and to live in their own towns. They most likely were experiencing abundance that they had not known before this time. No matter the current state of our lives on this earth, the blessings of God are present. We just need to look for them, and be thankful.