Always and forever, God concerns Himself with the poor.

"For ye have the poor with you always," the Savior declared (Mark 14:7). Subsequently, our directive to help them is constant.

Gnawing hunger is a sad thing to behold in the eyes of a child, as are weak and trembling arms of its mother and emptiness in the place of the father who is away in search of food for his family. Without relief, what would be the future of such? Weakening cries, corporal distension, organs failing as the tiny life force withers?

Always and ever, God concerns Himself with the poor. From the earliest days prophets have emphasized this essence of the gospel.

"Open thy hand wide unto the poor," the children of Israel were admonished (Deuteronomy 15:11). And the Lord "relieveth the fatherless and the widow," wrote the psalmist (Psalm 146:9). Isaiah records, "Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:17).

In His mortal ministry, the Savior instructed His disciples, "freely have ye received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8). James counseled: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27).

The Apostle Paul, according to the Bible Dictionary, constantly gathered alms during his travels and redistributed them, bringing relief to the poor of Jerusalem.

In the Book of Mormon, we read: "Succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need. ... Do we not all depend on that same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have?" (Mosiah 4:16, 19).

In our dispensation the Lord continues to emphasize this essence of the gospel:

"And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.

"But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.

"For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves.

"Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment" (Doctrine and Covenants 104:14–18).

"The Lord's own way" explained President Heber J. Grant when organizing the Church Welfare Program in April of 1936, during the Great Depression, to provide relief. "Our primary purpose was to set up, insofar as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self-respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership."

Helpers are blessed as much as those who are helped. "There is growth incalculable to the human soul when it steps outside of itself and concerns itself with others," said President Marion G. Romney. "Since that is the major work of our Father in Heaven — to work joyously for the advancement and progression of others — how could we think to receive all that He has unless we implement deeply into our own lives his motivations of love, thereby truly becoming His sons and daughters?" (Ensign, April 1981, p. 3).

Yet this charge to help those who cannot help themselves cannot rest on the laurels of the past. Each generation must acquaint itself new with the wolf of hunger and want, for the wolf, even in the best of times, is never so far away as to be forgotten. We must also remember this wolf thrives on unfairness, preying first on the very young and the very old and the infirm.

President Thomas S. Monson has a lifetime of caring for the poor. A 9-year-old boy when the Church's welfare plan was organized, he was reared in a household that "opened its hand" to the poor, especially vagrant men, many looking to support their families. A little more than a decade later, Thomas S. Monson was bishop in a ward disproportionate with widows and poor. His ward that "straddled the railroad tracks" was large, with 1,050 members and 87 widows, and had the largest welfare burden of any ward in the Church. He became an expert at locating basement apartments, upstairs living quarters, and houses; and using Church and personal resources to relieve want.

Now, as president of the Church, it is he who reminds us of our priority to reach out to others. "My brothers and sisters, we are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness — be they family members, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. We are the Lord's hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us (October 2009 general conference; Ensign November 2009).

He also expanded the horizon for each of us when he said: "We have a responsibility to extend help as well as hope to the hungry, to the hopeless and the downtrodden both at home and abroad" (April 1990 general conference; Ensign, May 1990).

Want is a sad thing to behold in anyone. May our generation continue to follow our leader in doing our part.