Deuteronomy
15:10 (NIRV)
So
give freely to those who are needy. Open your hearts to them. Then the Lord
your God will bless you in all of your work. He will bless you in everything
you do.
Shortly before the turn of the century, two young
students were working their way through Stanford University. At one point their
money was almost gone, so they decided to engage the great pianist Paderewski
for a concert and use the profits for board and tuition. Paderewski's manager asked for a guarantee of
$2,000. The students worked hard to
promote the concert, but they came up $400 short. After the performance, they went to the
musician, gave him all the money they had raised, and promised to pay the $400
as soon as they could. It appeared that
their college days were over. "No, boys, that won't do," said the
pianist. "Take out of this $1600 all your expenses, and keep for each of
you 10 percent of the balance for your work. Let me have the rest." Years passed.
Paderewski became premier of Poland following World War I. Thousands of his countrymen were
starving. Only one man could help-the
head of the U.S. Food and Relief Bureau.
Paderewski's appeal to him brought thousands of tons of food. Later he met the American statesman to thank
him. "That's all right," replied Herbert Hoover. "Besides, you
don't remember, but you helped me once when I was a student in college."
Have you ever heard of the “year of release”? The year of release was God’s command
described in Deuteronomy 15:1-11 that provided a comprehensive program of debt
cancellation. Wouldn’t that be something
if such a law existing in our lives today?
Every seven years creditors were commanded to cancel all outstanding
debts for their fellow Israelites while they were permitted to collect payment
from foreigners (vs 1-3). It was God’s
ideal that there shall be no one poor amongst His people (v 4), but that ideal
could only happen if His people obeyed His commandments (v 5). God promised to bless everyone so that they
could be generous themselves. If anyone
was in poverty, others would be generous (vs 6-8, see also Acts 2:44 and
4:32-35). Yet that society, like all
others, had people who would look for loopholes (excuses) so as not to give
generously (v 9). Such people would be
in danger of God’s judgment.
Deuteronomy 15:10 is a commandment to give
generously. There are blessings when you
do (see also Prov 11:25, Prov 19:17) and judgment when you don’t (see also Prov
11:26-28, Matt 25:41-44). You must by
all means lend to someone in your life who needs it and not be upset
by doing it. The Lord will bless you in
ways you cannot imagine.
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