A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 28: 27

Proverbs 28: 27     He who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses.

Proverbs 28:27.   God promises that if you use some of whatever wealth you have to help those who have less than you, then God promises to make sure that you always have enough.   Enough.  Not necessarily a whole bunch.  It is a promise of sufficiency, not necessarily of luxurious prosperity.

The assurance of sufficiency means that if you do the right things then you can increase your level of prosperity.  But, it doesn’t mean that you can be generous and stupid.

If you make $2,000 a month and you use $100 to help a needy family, but then you spend $1,200 on a diamond encrusted cell phone cover when you haven’t paid your $800 rent;  that’s $100 of generosity and $2,000 of stupidity. God does not promise to make up for the $2,000 worth of stupid.

As you walk through the Word of God (especially in the condensed advice of Proverbs), you see what might seem to be mutually exclusive principles.  But, the promises and programs of God are complementary not contradictory .  You are to be charitable and wise, loving and self-disciplined. 

Jesus said, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”  (Matthew 10: 16)

 

Be good to people and also be smart with your money.

The last half of Proverbs 28: 27 expresses the same principle but in reverse.   What about those who are good with their money but evil to people?

 

We know that there are people who don’t give a thought or a care to the poor and needy in our society.  We also know that some of those people are rich.   Some of them rose through economic ranks on a foundation of charity and then forgot those they’d left behind.  Some of them never cared to begin with. 

Wealth that is gathered without humility is cursed by God--- cursed repeatedly and in multiple ways.

In Daniel chapters 4 & 5, King Nebuchadnezzar kept his money but lost his sanity. 

In 2 Kings 20: 12-19, Hezekiah’s legacy was cut short even after his life had been extended.  The kingdom was lost to his son. 

In Jesus’ parable in Luke 12, a rich man said: And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’

^But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ (Luke 12: 19, 20)

God applies many curses/ consequences to those who hide their eyes from the poor.  Financial trouble can happen, but there are also many other curses that can't be calculated in dollars.  You don’t want to find out what they are by experience. 

Be wise according to the wisdom of God.  Be humble and compassionate toward the poor.

Do right and do right by others.  God’ll have your back.

---Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

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