Pity on the poor

He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given. – Proverbs 19.17

God has always cared for the poor and He has always wanted His people to care for the poor. Way back in the Law the Jews were commanded to care for the poor and the needy and to not let them suffer. There is a constant theme through the word of God about providing for the poor. If there was any doubt Jesus made it clear and then then the rest of the New Testament confirmed this truth. We could look at scores of passages that talk about meeting the needs of the poor, but let’s just look at this one verse.

He who has pity lends to the Lord, and He will pay back whatever has been given.

I love this concept. God uses His people to take care of the poor. When we provide for the poor we do so for God. We don’t have to worry about it because of the rest of the verse - if we take care of the poor God is going to reimburse us.

It is all so simple when we look at it that way. God wants to use us to take care of the poor and then He will pay us back when we do – and we don’t even need to turn in a receipt.

I hope we can all see how important caring for the poor is – and that it is not something we really have an excuse for not doing. We do the work for God – and let him reimburse us!