Mom lived with her three younger siblings in a shanty in the 1950s. Their dad left. The cupboards lay bare while Grandma lay ill with a serious sickness. Mom fended for her family by harvesting grass from the overgrown yard to make soup. The kids rarely bathed (no plumbing), and she curled her fingers into the palms of her hands to hide the layered dirt. When the school bus stopped at Tibbetts Wick Road, she walked the aisle, down the metal stairs, and out the accordion glass doors, wishing she lived anywhere else.
The next-door neighbor took notice of the hungry children. She invited Mom to clean her small home in exchange for vegetables from her garden and chocolate chip cookies freshly made from her oven. Her generosity filled starving stomachs.
This, I think, is the heart of the teaching in Deuteronomy 15. My mom’s neighbor opened her hand willingly to the poor in her land (Deuteronomy 15:11). She offered the yield of her plot—as small as it was—and allowed my mom to glean from the first of her produce. Granted, Mom “worked” for the carrots and cookies, but the amount of food far exceeded the amount of her work.
I hope I share as easily, but in all honesty, it can feel uncomfortable extending our hands openly. Sometimes I wonder, Will we have enough? Shouldn’t we save for the future? How much should we give anyway?
The beauty about God’s instructions to the Israelites in Deuteronomy is He leaves the questioning out. They know what to do—God spelled it out in the gift of the Law. He offered the Israelites specific measurements, seasons, and times to offer openly to the poor. He even declared that if the Israelites obeyed Him, God would bless the work of their hands (Deuteronomy 15:4-6, Deuteronomy 15:10, Deuteronomy 15:18). If they trusted and obeyed God, a blessing in and of itself, God would further reward them.
I wish we knew with such specific clarity in the New Testament about how exactly to extend our hands to the poor—with the guarantee of God’s blessings in return. But what we do have is an invitation to be a part of Jesus’s work on earth. He is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 61 to “preach good news to the poor…to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19). We may not have the same specific times and measurements, but we do have the heart of these laws—to open our hand willingly—and the heart of our Savior to bring the good news to the poor.
Are we willing, or are we not willing? Are we hoarding, or are we extending? Generosity demonstrates our gratitude for God’s current provision and our trust for His future blessing. Even if our plot is small with just a few carrots and strawberries to share, it just might mean the world to the one who receives our care—like it did for my mom.
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54 thoughts on "Caring for the Poor"
Lorna, I know exactly what you mean. I sit at the lights and feel so awkward. I have prayed about it and I felt the Lord ask me if I could offer my neighbor a cup of cold water. So I started taking water bottles with me when I left home and offering them to people. Honesty, I wasn’t sure what their reactions would be, but I have yet to find anyone who wasn’t grateful and thanked me. It has encouraged me to think of other ways that I can give them because, as we all know, it feels so good to give to others.
Good morning sisters. Always looks for ways to bless the poor. It’s amazing how many hungry kids there are out there. I do struggle sometimes with will there be enough for me and my family. God always reminds me “my God shall supply all my needs”. My father in law declined yesterday. They said that is normal after a transplant. He was also very weak. My dad has covid. Please keep praying for our family. My husband has been gone helping his parents at the hospital.
It really stood out to me that the concern for the poor was not rooted in their motive but in the heart of the one with the means to give. In addition to God setting and caring about those who are poor and marginalized, I love how He didn’t neglect to remind them of the importance of taking time to rest, celebrate, and remember while spending time with family. We truly serve an awesome God!
There are so many people standing at intersections with signs. I want to have the right heart in these situations. I would love to hear from any of you your thoughts on how to be the light but not be naive or is it not my place to worry about this? BTW, I follow daily and really look forward to all the posts and praying for strangers. Thank you all❤️
I love that God asks for a percentage so that there is is equal sacrifice, not necessarily equal contributions.
I try to live simply so that when needs arise for others I have reserves to help. Also when I tithe to my local church, there are reserves in that “storehouse” to serve needs in the congregation and community.
Be encouraged to strive to be generous with what God has given you (that may mean giving even more than a tithe) with a joyful attitude. Giving is more a heart issue than a budget issue – what are you placing your trust in?
Such a good reminder this morning to take care of those in our communities who need our help. ❤️
Many years ago, 25+ at least, a former pastor challenged the congregation to commit to tithing for 90 days. We had been consistently giving weekly but had never done the math to see what the percentage was – shocking to see that we were nowhere near 10%. We accepted that challenge and I continue to keep track of our earnings and contributions so that we don’t fall below the 10%. Good to remember that God’s portion comes out first, and then the needs (food, house costs, etc) with wants coming last. One of the things I’ve had to work on is being honest with myself on what’s in the needs bucket vs the wants.
I think most school districts provide breakfast and lunch for many and sometimes all children yet there is still a lot of child and adult hunger in the US and world. It can be lack of food as well as lack of nutritional food. One program in many communities is the Backpack program which provides nutritional food for children to take home on Fridays to get them through the weekend. This has been on my mind for a while and I want to look at ways to help in my location, an area of high poverty. Thankfully, I have never faced true hunger. We always had enough to eat, maybe not excess or fancy, but enough. A friend of mine grew up in extreme poverty and has talked about walking home from school and picking up food that had been tossed out along the road, apple cores, orange peels or whatever they could find. It’s difficult (impossible really) to comprehend hunger to the point of starvation when I’ve never experienced it.
Praying for all the needs mentioned yesterday, post by post. I start my days with my SRT family and pray and praise with you daily.
Praise God there are no starving children now like Seana’s mother was because as far as I know every school provides free breakfast and lunch for every child even in summer.