The poor man...

"If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks."--Deuteronomy 15:7-8.  Here Moses instructs that Israel ought to help their own if and when it was necessary.  Here we see the principle of helping the poor man (or woman) among us.

The poor man.  What is being spoken about here is the Sabbatic or Sabbath year.  Every seventh year, God commanded the Israelites to let the land rest from harvesting any crops.  I have heard that today while this is not a law, the principle of letting the land rest still applies. This is because if you don't, you deplete the land of all its resources and then you can no longer use it at all.  With Israel, what this means is that without working the land on the seventh year, there would obviously be no harvest every seven years.  Therefore, if for some reason they had a bad year at some point during the previous six years, they might have to go without during the seventh year.  If this is the case, Israel had a responsibility to freely open their hand, generously lend, and lend sufficient for the need.  These three points are what we will explore and apply to ourselves in this morning's blog about how we ought to deal with the poor man.

The poor man.  It is no secret that we are living in tough economic times.  Many of our brethren are suffering from the effects of the economic downturn.  Having come out of the secular workforce, I understand the feeling.  Hours are getting cut, people are getting laid off and families are having to go without some things that they once enjoyed.  So how are we to respond to our brethren who might be suffering in this way?

Open our hands.  The first thing we must do is be willing to help.  This of course calls for wisdom.  There are some out there that are simply trying to take a handout without putting forth any effort themselves. On the other hand, there are some people that are simply "down on their luck."  These are the ones we need to be willing to open our hand to and help however we can.

Generously lend.  The key thought here is not just lending but lending generously.  If you are able, don't just give the bear minimum, lend generously.  Recently, I had a couple of situations where I needed some financial help and the people that helped me not only helped me but were very generous about it.  They helped me with more than sufficient for the need.

Lend sufficient for the need.  Another thing we can do when dealing with the poor man (or woman) is determining the specific need.  This is another area where we can apply wisdom.  Do they need money to feed their family?  Instead of giving money, go out and buy their groceries for them expecting nothing in return.  Do they need money for gas?  Instead of giving money for the gas, fill up their tank for them.  Again this all calls for wisdom.  There are times when we should give cash if the need is there.

The poor man.  The point here is not what we do for the person.  The point is the person has a need that needs to be met.  As followers of God, we have a responsibility to do what we can to meet people's needs, both physical and spiritual.  Sometimes we need to meet the physical needs before we are able to address the spiritual needs.  Jesus tells us in Mark 14:7 that we will always have the poor with us and that whenever we wish we can do good to them.  Do you know someone who is in need?  I am sure you do.  Take some time to see what you can do to meet that need, whether it is physical, spiritual, or both.  As we serve one another, let us never forget the poor man.    

PRAY ABOUT IT! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!