You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ Deuteronomy 15:10-11
“The reference is to the poor, afflicted, needy, weak, wretched person who is suffering from oppression and abuse—in general the lowest class in society then and now. My heart was released when I read the rest of the verse. I interpreted it as an exercise in obedience to God and charity to my brothers and sisters who are in need.
In this verses we can learn many lessons about the heart of God for the poor. First, serving the poor is not optional. The fact that there is poverty on the earth is not a judgment on humanity; it is an opportunity to serve and glorify God.
Second, the verse tells us that we should not harden our hearts. We should not keep our hand closed, holding on to our stuff. We should, instead, open that hand with a grateful heart—a heart thankful for what God has given us. And we should be generous in sharing our time, talents, and treasure with our less-fortunate brothers and sisters, helping them overcome their poverty…
Being openhanded will not encourage the poor to depend on us. It is an opportunity to help them recognize our reliance on God, who is our Provider.”
Gladys Acuña Güitz in Hidden Treasure: Finding God in Unexpected Places with Betsy Ahl (Guatemala City: Potter’s House, 2021) 33.
This is a great book, released to help Potter’s House celebrate 35 years of service to the poor in Guatemala City. I commend it to anyone who works with the poor. Find it on Amazon here. I am excited to participate in an online event celebrating the book launch this evening.
Until I visited Gladys in Guatemala, I did not learn that that serving the poor is a great opportunity both to be blessed and to bless. We get to help people who experience far more than financial poverty to rise up out of the trash heap of life and learn to trust God with us.
God’s design and desire in Deuteronomy is that our hearts become soft and compassionate rather than hard and calloused. When we serve those who may be the lowest of low on earth, we realize by experience what our Lord did for us. We minister and are transformed in the process.
When we make margin to serve the needy, God does something through us and also in us. It’s hard to describe. He changes our hearts. He teaches us that He is our Provider. And, I think the reason it is not optional is because when we don’t serve, we remain empty, but when we do, we are enriched.
Thanks for teaching me this Gladys! Learn from her, friends. Read the book! It’s a page-turner.