Tight Fisted or Open Handed?

Deuteronomy 15:7,8 When you are living in the land the LORD your God is giving you, there might be some poor people living among you. You must not be selfish. You must not refuse to give help to them. You must be willing to share with them. You must lend them whatever they need.

Most of us wouldn’t consider ourselves to be wealthy. Depending on your circumstances, you might think of yourself as somewhere between “middle class” and … not so well off. But then you walk past that old guy begging on the street.

It seems incredibly unfair to me that because of where someone’s born, the family and the circumstances that they grew up in, they end up being either wealthy or poor. Why is that? Why doesn’t God do something about that?

Well, actually, He already has. This particular scripture passage is especially for those of us who consider ourselves to be “middle class” – you know … I’m okay, but by no means wealthy.

Deuteronomy 15:7,8 When you are living in the land the LORD your God is giving you, there might be some poor people living among you. You must not be selfish. You must not refuse to give help to them. You must be willing to share with them. You must lend them whatever they need.

It’s amazing how distorted our perspective becomes amidst the comfort of a middle-class existence. The truth be known, if you have access to clean drinking water and enough food to eat, a roof over your head and clothes to wear, you’re wealthy beyond measure, even if you don’t consider yourself to be rich per se.

So what has God already done for the poor? He’s called you and me to be willing, with a generous heart, to help them.

Look … people are poor for all kinds of reasons. Our job isn’t to judge. God isn’t calling us into complacency and selfishness. To the contrary: You must not refuse to help them.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.