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Writer's picture: waterwindwinewaterwindwine

Proverbs 28:27


  “He who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides he’s eyes will have many curses."


I have many times seen people begging for money on the streets. Sometimes, if the Lord provokes me, I have given to them. There has long been a debate in my heart as to whether or not to make a blanket rule that I always will, or I always will not give money to them. The conclusion that I have reached is that when I am faced with beggars then I have to consult the Lord for His indication on whether to give money to them or not. That is certainly what this verse is referring to, but the Lord wants to be clear that not all who are poor need to be given money. In Acts chapter 3, there was a man sitting outside of a temple and this man was lame- he could not walk. Because he could not walk, he could not work so there he would sit every day and beg for money. One day, as he was begging, the Spirit of the Living God provoked Peter to manifest the will of the Lord toward this man. Peter instructed the man to look at them and so he did. When he looked at them, he expected to receive money from them. Then Peter said to the man “Silver and Gold I do not have, but what I do have, I give to you … in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” First of all, Peter and John did have money, they just didn’t have it with them. Remember they were both fishermen and Jesus blessed their fishing companies so much that they were able to retire and go about preaching the gospel. The Holy Spirit moved on Peter’s heart to give this man what he really needed. He really needed to be able to walk. So God restored to him the ability to walk through the hands of Peter. Herein lies the point of the matter….. Sometimes what the “poor” need is the restoration of whatever it was that was missing that caused them to be poor in the first place. Therefore, when we are faced with someone who is lacking and who is therefore begging, it is imperative to consult the Holy One for His guidance on what to actually give to that person. This may very well be money in some cases, and in others it may be other things…. only the Holy One knows what is needed truly. 

    Further, when we are faced with the provocation of the Lord to manifest His love toward someone who is in need and we fail to obey, we are essentially “hiding our eyes.” I know that personally I have been stopped at a light and had someone next to my vehicle with a cardboard sign begging for money. Before I understood these concepts, I would avoid eye contact with these people because if I looked them in the eye, I would give money to  them without discernment. I would allow my “flesh” to feel bad for them and then to soothe my own conscious, I would give. This is where people run in to trouble. They do not want to “feel bad” so they give but then when they see that same beggar go to the gas station and buy alcohol, they become angry. So the next time they see a person begging for money, they are unloving and hard hearted toward them based on their prior experience. All of this is wrong in the eyes of God and all of it is wrapped up in the verse above. You see I was hiding my eyes from seeing these people and then I would “feel bad” this feeling was then like a curse to me. As well, when I would give to them and they would go get alcohol I would then take one person’s bad behavior out on everyone and this was also a curse to me. What I mean by saying these things were a curse to me is that after experiencing these things, I would then be experiencing some bad thing in my own life and then I would say to myself, this is what I get because I didn’t give to that homeless beggar. Essentially what I was doing was disavowing what Jesus Christ did. I was placing myself in the middle of a legalistic system of tit for tat. Basically saying that what Jesus did for me by forgiving all of my sins send becoming a curse for me was only applicable to my life if I did nothing wrong- if I was perfect in all of my ways. Now what kind of sense does that make? Why would He need to forgive me if I never did anything wrong? Answer- He wouldn’t. 

    Here is the end of the matter- When we see someone in need who has either turned their attention to us or to whom the Lord has turned our attention, we are obligated to consult the Spirit of the Living God and obey what He instructs us to do. If we fail to do this, and we are still under the Old Law, the legalistic rule of the 613 commands of the Old Testament, then we will open the door to the wicked one to attack us by convincing us that we are cursed with a curse. This is wholly untrue! God says in Galatians 3 that Jesus Christ became a curse for us so that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us. If we see someone begging and fail to obey then we can receive the forgiveness He has already given us so that we may grow thereby and make a better choice next time. Furthermore, let it not be out of a compulsion that you give money to one who begs money from you without first consulting the Holy One, for this too might be against the will of God. For in so doing, you may be enabling that person to destroy their lives by drug use or some such thing. In this way too you must consult the Holy One for direction and believe that He will give it to you the next time that you see someone in need. Let us love them as Christ loved us by laying down our lives- our own opinions, our own reactions, and our own desires so that we can manifest the love of God purely to them!



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