Giving

“You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore, I command you this today.” Deuteronomy 15:15

God could have said anything before or after this that He wanted. God’s commands come out of His miraculously working in the lives of the Israelites. God redeemed them. God saved them from slavery. God brought them from certain death and misery to life. God took what was broken and made it right. God restored what was shattered back to what once was perfect.

In particular, God is commanding His people to be a generous people. He commands them to give freely. He commands them to live within their means and not try to find their worth in how much they can accumulate. He commands them to be wise, but extravagant with their monies.

“You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’” Deuteronomy 15:10-11

God desires not the actions but the heart of a man. God knows that if He gets the heart of a man, his outward will follow suit. God desires that our hands be wide open to the needy, the brothers, and the poor in the land.

I thought it was interesting that God basically said, ‘You can give all you want, but the poor will always be with you. No matter how much you give, there will still be poor people.’ For some this would be reason to not give. For some this would be an excuse. ‘We’ll never fix this problem. This is too big for us to even make a dent in, so what’s the point in giving?’ However, God defies logic. He says that because there will never cease to be poor, OPEN WIDE your hand and give lavishly. Give big and give often and see how I will bless your work, even though you will not change the situation! That is backwards to what we think.

Praise God that God is God!

And the same it is with Grace. God could have looked at us and said, ‘Sin will always remain with these people, no matter how much I give. No matter how much grace and mercy I give, they will continue to reject me, so what’s the point of even giving.’

Praise God that He continually chooses to grant grace and mercy even though sin will remain in the land. Praise God that He chose to Love extravagantly and give sacrificially even when it was not deserved on the other end. This is the Gospel. Not that we deserved anything, but that God Loves.

Father, take our eyes off of ourselves and put them on You!