“If you help the poor you are lending to the Lord — and He will repay you!” Proverbs 19:17 NLT
This is a powerful verse about God having His heart and mind on specific groups. From a glance and by simply reading this scripture from an English translation, it tells us if we help the poor God will repay us. Like any admonition from the Lord, God is exhorting us on something that reflects His heart. There was a time when I was immature in my faith that I would have focused on the second part of this scripture, which is the blessing. God wants us to know that yes, we will be blessed when we reflect His heart, but He doesn’t want us to do it for the blessing. Because if we are doing it for what we can get, that isn’t love. God wants us fully matured in love.
But there is more in this scripture than what this English translation is giving us. This verse was originally written by Solomon in the Hebrew language. I personally am not usually one to dig into the original language, but God was compelling me to look deeper into this scripture. If you look at the word “help,” the Hebrew word is “Chanan” which means to be gracious and show favor. This definition describes words that aren’t transactional giving, but the words gracious and favor imply relationship. So it isn’t an impersonal act of giving, but something that is relational.
Secondly, if you look at the Hebrew word for “poor,” it is the word “Dal” which means low, poor, weak, one who is low. Then if you look at the Hebrew word for “lending,” it is the word “Lavah” which means to join, be joined. Essentially the scripture is telling us if we show graciousness and favor to those who are low, poor, weak, thin, to one who is low, then we are joining ourselves to the Lord and He will repay us. Interesting stuff. You could think I am cherry picking this scripture, but there are over 2,000 scriptures from God’s heart admonishing Israel and/or the church to love and look after the poor, widow, prisoner, refugee, or orphans.
“He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, But he who honors Him has mercy on the needy.” Proverbs 14:31 NKJV
If we know this is a high act of love reflecting God’s heart, you have to ask yourself why is God’s heart so clear and abundant in this? I believe God shows His love to all mankind and He doesn’t care about status or success. God sees the individual value in each person. Therefore I believe He also knew that as humans prospered in the things of God and/or in success principals, that He needed to keep us humble and down to earth to always know and understand His heart with the importance and value He has for all humans. Our human tendency is to grow independent and to believe the proud lie that we have accomplished our success. God even warns us:
“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.” Deuteronomy 8:18-19 NKJV
This was never more real than to a successful politician by the name of William Wilberforce. Born August 24, 1759, he was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. In 1785 he became an evangelical Christian, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform. William not only changed and forged the way for abolition of slavery, but he commonly did life, relationship, and friendship with the poor (low, thin, weak, poor, one who is low).
That is where my excitement is with GRDC. We are a movement that impacts many, including the poor. Not only that, we are a relationship and friendship movement. God has been building a community that reflects everybody as friends; black, white, brown, yellow, red, poor, and/or doing good. Why do we reflect this and why did William Wilberforce? Simply because Jesus did. Jesus modeled this heart of God. He went to the low places and loved big. As His disciples, we are living this out and growing systems where the body of Christ can also live this out. I believe the hope found in GRDC is that we are showing our city and the world that this Jesus lifestyle is achievable. Easy? No, it can be very messy at times. But Jesus entered the mess of humanity to demonstrate how big God’s love is. Am I saying that all people should join GRDC? No. But I do believe if we can do it, the body of Christ can. Our hope is that relational movements will continue to grow to reflect the heart of God and Jesus. You may not be called to the inner city, but there are hurting people groups near you that Jesus has called you to. Let me close with this. You have heard of the great “Surrender.” Surrendering your life to God to become a believer. But there is always a second surrender. Will you surrender to the “call” of loving the world? And doing it by being friends with the lost and hurting? You can, and we are excited for God’s love to go forth!
