A Glimpse into God's Heart

by Gina L.
from Virtuous Daughters, February 2017~Volume 16, Number 11

"Panning for Gold" Proverbs 31 Study Series Part 11
~Proverbs 31:20~

Recently I was given something from a dear mother who wanted me to remember the life of her daughter. Within its pages lies the story of a young woman who touched many lives in her 23 years on this earth. Her name was Shelby and she served with her family, helping the poor in Mexico and Haiti before she went to be with the Lord from a medical condition when she was 23. She left a huge impact. In fact the newsletter stated, “even though the hearts of the Mexican people ache because of their great loss, Shelby still lives within them. They remember her every time they see the colors of the rainbow in every house she helped paint.” The newsletter also had pictures of Shelby serving others in many ways—holding a hammer, a paint brush, a baby, a toddler, and many children as well as cooking, caring for people, and doing a repair atop a tall ladder, and many other things. Shelby even “started a ministry in Haiti...to sponsor two schools, providing Christian education and one hearty meal a day for children of families that cannot afford other schools.” Yes, the poor indeed had found a dear friend in Shelby. The poor also found a friend in the Virtuous Woman.

In Proverbs 31:20, the Virtuous Woman is described just like Shelby. “She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.” The Virtuous Woman looks beyond her own circumstances and her circle of comfort to those who are poor. But she doesn’t stop at just finding and observing the needs of the poor, which in itself requires awareness and discernment. She goes on to meet the needs as well, stretching her own hands forth to the poor and needy. Having previously taken good care of the needs of her immediate household, the Virtuous Woman extends her influence, spilling over to others around her. Her strong arms and hands that work willingly now provide care, comfort, cooking, cleaning, construction, clothing, creativity or compassion to the poor and needy.
 
God also has much to say about the poor and needy. The word “poor” is used 205 times in the Bible, and in reading through those references, I am overwhelmed at God’s tremendous heart for the poor. He is not merely neutral in His affection for them. Come let us glimpse the heart of God.

We see God’s love for the poor in many of the Psalms. God is found maintaining the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor. It is God Himself Who delivers the needy when he cries and the poor too, and also him that has no helper. God also stands at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul. And what a comfort to see that the poor have a refuge; it is the Lord. (Psalm 140:12, Psalm 72:12, Psalm 109:31, Psalm 14:6)
 
God’s love for the poor is displayed in hearing them. God’s ears are open wide to the poor, for the Lord hears the poor, and despises not his prisoners. When the poor man cried, the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongues fail for thirst, the LORD will hear them, the God of Israel will not forsake them. Yes, God hears and also answers. (Psalm 69:33, Psalm 34:6, Isaiah 41:17)
 
In the Old Testament, God’s love for the poor was manifested in the laws He set up to protect and care for the poor and needy. From the way a field was gleaned and the lending of money without usury, to the resting of the land from sowing in the seventh year, the release and restoration in the year of Jubilee, and the law of redeeming by the next of kin, the poor were considered and provided for.
 
God still loves the poor today, and He gives us many commands and promises regarding our treatment of them. We are blessed when we consider the poor and are promised that the Lord will deliver us in our time of trouble. God admonishes us to defend the poor and fatherless and do justice to the afflicted and needy. We are also told about what makes a person happy—having mercy on the poor! If we oppress the poor, we actually reproach God our Maker, but he who honors God will have mercy on the poor. I love this next truth, for people are always talking about making good investments. Do you want a secure and trustworthy investment that pays great dividends? Have pity on the poor, for he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and that which he has given will the Lord pay him again. Blessing is promised to him that has a bountiful eye—the one who gives his bread to the poor. King Lemuel’s mother also tells him to plead the cause of the poor and needy in Proverbs 31 right before she instructs him in what a Virtuous Woman looks like and how hard she is to find. This is also God’s heart for us today. (Psalm 41:1, Psalm 82:3, Proverbs 14:21, Proverbs 14:31, Proverbs 19:17, Proverbs 21:9, Proverbs 31:9)

While the wicked regards not to know the cause of the poor, the righteous considers it. This reminds me of Job. When God was talking to Satan about Job, God called Job perfect and upright. God asked Satan, “Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”  What is true of this perfect and upright man, Job? One thing for sure, Job shared God’s heart of love and compassion for the poor. In his defense to those who wrongly admonished him, Job reminds that he has delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. Calling himself a father to the poor, Job also asked, “Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?” I pray that this heart for the poor shared by God, Job, and the Virtuous Woman would be shared by us as well. (Proverbs 29:7, Job 2:3, Job 29:12, Job 29:16, Job 30:25)
 
Since God Himself looks out for the poor, there have been many consequences for those who oppressed them. While we are promised in Proverbs that he that gives to the poor shall not lack, we are also warned that he who hides his eyes shall have many a curse. In Amos, the prophet speaks for God in saying that God will not turn away punishment from Israel because they sold the poor for a pair of shoes. Wow! Amos also speaks to Israel this judgment, that since they tread upon the poor and take from him burdens of wheat, the Israelites shall not dwell in the hewn stone houses they have built and they also will not drink wine from the pleasant vineyard they have planted. God definitely cares about the treatment of the poor.  (Proverbs 28:27, Amos 2:6, Amos 5:11)
 
Did you realize that one of the iniquities of Sodom was that she didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy? We all remember her end. The New Testament contains a different kind of warning, that love must be part of the equation in caring for the poor. Even if we give all our food to feed the poor and give our body to be burned, it will profit us nothing if we don’t have love, so caring for the poor must originate from a heart of love. (Ezra 16:49, I Corinthians 13:3)
 
James warns us neither to show favor to someone because he is rich, nor to treat someone inferior because he is poor. Though they were despising the poor, James asked his beloved brethren a rhetorical question, “Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love Him?”  (James 2:5,6)
 
There are different kinds of poor. David called himself poor and needy when he cried out in prayer to God. He had many seasons of various needs. We all do to varying degrees. There are financially poor and also the poor in spirit. Jesus speaks in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus also lifting up His eyes on His disciples says, “Blessed be you poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.” Just as there are different kinds of poor, there are also different types of needy. There are the physically and emotionally needy and there are the spiritually needy. (Psalm 86:1, Matthew 5:3, Luke 6:20)
 
We were all spiritually needy. Jesus himself showed such grace in that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich. Does this mean rich in money? How sad that would be to only have this world’s goods! For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? No amount of money can purchase your salvation. It was paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ our Redeemer. We have become rich indeed, and heirs together with Christ, if we have believed on Him. (2 Corinthians 8:9, Matthew 16:26)
 
We have seen Jesus in His time on earth giving water to the thirsty and bread to hungry. James also reminds us that there is no profit in just telling a brother or sister who needs clothes or food to get warmed up or filled, but rather in giving them those things that are needful to the body. Physical needs are important, but we must also give spiritual food. Jesus is rightly called the Bread of Life and He stated that “he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst”—spiritually, that is. All people need the Bread of Life to live. (James 2:15-17, John 6:35)
 
God’s heart of love for the poor is exhibited in His Son.  Jesus preached the gospel to the poor. After Jesus was tempted of the devil, He went into the region around Galilee and taught in the synagogues. When he came to Nazareth, where He was raised, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. He was given the book of Isaiah and after He found the place, He read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He {God} has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor…” Jesus closed the book and sat down and said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” John the Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus a question from John who was in prison, “Are You He that should come, or do we look for another?” In answering, Jesus replied by listing many things He had done that were ordained of God and prophesied aforetime, including that the poor have the Gospel preached to them. God has always made provision for the poor. Let us likewise care for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the poor and needy. All need the Gospel. (Luke 4:14-21, Matthew 11:5, Luke 7:22)
 
Glimpsing God’s heart for the poor changes our selfish outlook—or inward-look, rather—on our lives. But what can we do? There are many diverse ways to care for the poor and needy, and it is not necessary to move to Haiti or Mexico to do it, if that is not your calling. The Lord will open opportunities and lead you if your desire is to open your heart and your hand to the poor and needy. We are all uniquely gifted by God and what one person’s service looks like may be dramatically different than another’s labors and field. The poor are among us. They always will be. Deuteronomy 15:11 says, “the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command you, saying, you shall open your hand wide unto your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land.” Let us look beyond our own comforts and make the effort to see the poor and needy and respond in love.
 
Cultivate a heart like God’s heart that loves the poor and needy, and then follow through in action to reach forth and stretch out your hand to the many types of poor and needy about us, for such does the Virtuous Woman.