Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will reward them for what they have done. Proverbs 19:17
“You say, If I were a rich Christian, how happy would I be to give! But I am so poor what can I give? Now, I just ask you to look at the man sowing seed. When he has but little, does he keep back from sowing that little? No; he sows all the more anxiously the little he has in order to make more. Do you the same. How little you believe God! He says: “He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord” [Proverbs 19:17]. Now, I believe there is not one in a hundred who would not rather lend to a rich man than lend to the Lord. You believe man — not God.
In fact, it is but the other day I heard of a child of God who was in very reduced circumstances, her husband being blind, yet who contrived not only to live, but to give to others also. She wrought with her own hands, that she might have to give. She gave largely to the poor largely also to missions abroad. This was sowing the seed, all the seed she had, for she had no hoard. And did the crop fail? No: it appeared in India, a distant relative died, leaving £20,000 to her alone.
God is able to do this every day. “God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” [2 Corinthians 9:8]. How easily God can give you, by the smallest turn of His providence, more than all you give away in a year! O trust the Lord! But the wicked cannot trust God. The world is an infidel at heart.
Some will say: I will begin tonight; I will put your word to the test; I will give double what I ever gave, and see if I will get a return. Answer. No such thing; keep your money, I advise you. If you give, hoping for something again, you will get nothing. You must give as a Christian gives — cheerfully, liberally, and freely, hoping for nothing again; and then God will give you back in good measure, pressed down: “Give, and it shall be given to you.” He that giveth to the poor shall have no lack.”
Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843) in Sermon LXXXII: “More Blessed To Give Than To Receive” delivered in Dundee, February 4, 1838, in The Works of the Late Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne (New York: Robert Carter, 1847) 480-481.
All the money we possess belongs to God. Jesus tells us that where we put the money we possess shows where our hearts are. It reveals what whether we trust God or money to sustain us. If our money is in stock market then we expect a return from stock market. If our money is in the poor, then we trust God to provide the return. Where is the money you manage for God?
McCheyne rightly notes that we must not give in order to get, but we must give trusting in God. This appears as the posture of dependence in the Lord’s prayer. I love the miraculous story he mentioned to illustrate this. A person of modest means gives generously never seeking a return, and trusts in God, who supplies in an unimaginable and unpredictable way. It’s how God works.
Where are you in this illustration? Do you lend to the rich man or to the Lord? Are you an infidel at heart or do you trust in His providence? On the eve of the start of Lent, I urge you to consider your giving to the poor. Almsgiving is not supporting a friend’s charity; it’s giving to people who are in financial need. Ask God what you should give and to whom you should give and give as God leads you.