The Measure of Faithfulness
He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses Proverbs 28:27
Shuts His Eyes – If you had to boil down the measure of your trust in God to tangible acts, Proverbs would direct you to one simple thing – your social responsibility to the poor. For most of us, that is the last place we want to look to determine just how much we trust God. We want our trust to be revealed by inner feelings of spiritual security or participation in church programs or Bible study or the amount of time we pray. We don’t really want God to measure our faithfulness by looking at our interaction with the poor because, quite frankly, we don’t want to be in their company. That’s good for Mother Teresa types, but we prefer well-dressed, middle class, clean company.
Proverbs condemns our social hubris for what it is – shutting our eyes to God’s broken heart.
The Hebrew is ma’lim ‘enayw. Behind this phrase is the idea of making the needs of the poor hidden by ignoring them and failing to act. The reason this act is condemned is simple – it is a deliberate decision to conceal the truth. If you thought you could just look the other way or that someone else was responsible, then you made yourself guilty. God brought His concern before you and you closed your eyes to it. Your exposure to the truth of social injustice was not an accident. There are no accidents in a world where God is sovereign. The fact that you had to shut your eyes means that you saw the need but refused to act with compassion. Curses follow such arrogance.
“But I don’t have enough to help,” is the usual excuse. God answers that deflection of responsibility too. Read the first part of the verse again. How is it possible that those who give will never want? It is only possible because God supplies the giver. If I want to reflect the heart of the Lord, I must do so fully trusting that He will supply. When I start to count on myself, I will shrink back from the opportunity God places before me. I will worry that my resources will be exhausted. I will protect myself first. That’s why failure to act generously toward the poor is a sure sign of not trusting God. If you really want to know how much faith you have in God, look at your reaction to the needs of the poor. As my friend Paul Meyer says, “I can tell how much you trust God by looking at the last month of your checkbook.”
All of this is the complete reversal of the world’s way. Who would ever believe that giving results in getting? We think that first we must get in order to give. But God knows that faith is demonstrated when our resources are empty. Think backwards and you are likely to be closer to the truth.
