Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked
heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye
be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto
the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. –
Deuteronomy 15.9
Be careful that you don’t have a wicked thought in
your heart.
There are all kinds of wicked thoughts. There are
bitter thoughts and vengeful thoughts and jealous thoughts and lustful thoughts
and proud thoughts and so on and so on.
So the warnings about watching out for evil thoughts
are a good general warning.
But the evil thoughts here are a different kind of
thoughts out of a wicked heart.
These evil thoughts specifically involve trying to get
out of a law that required debts to be forgiven every seven years. The evil
thoughts were thoughts of greed and selfishness.
These evil thoughts are real because they are based on
the love of money, and that of course is the root of all sorts of evil. This
ties in to the previous passage about caring for the poor. To not care for the
poor is not only irresponsible, but it is proof of the evil in our hearts.
Like all other sins wicked selfish thoughts begin in
our hearts - all the more reason to keep our hearts with all diligence. If we
really believe that God can and will meet all our needs it frees us up to be
the givers He wants us to be.
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