Proverbs 21:13. Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.
There is a principle that is taught in the Bible that says that you reap what you sow. This principle comes straight from creation. God made the plants to produce seeds, and those seeds, when sowed, produce more plants, and so on, and so on. But the principle is about more than plants. There is a larger principle at work in creation that says that what we sow with our lives is what we will reap with our lives.
Many people, especially conservative Christians, see this principle at work in the lives of the poor. What causes poverty? Clearly, a person reaps poverty because they sowed poverty. They sowed laziness and poor judgment, maybe even deception or scheming.
True wisdom, however, remembers that there is more than just the “reap what you sow” principle at work in the world. There is also the curse and the forces of chaos. The truth is that we live in a fallen world where a person can sow all the right things and still not reap a reward. Just as the hard working farmer can lose his crop to drought, flood, hail, locusts, or disease, the righteous person can still find themselves in a state of poverty.
This proverb, almost ironically, uses the reap what you sow principle, not as a reminder of why people are poor, but as a reminder to help the poor. If you close your ear to the cry of the poor (sow), you will call out and not be answered (reap). You see, true wisdom doesn’t go around judging why a person is poor, the answer to that question is far too complex for any of us. True wisdom simply hears the cry of the poor, and chooses to help, knowing that God has chosen to answer our cry for help when we were poor.
God has never once closed his ear to the cry of the poor. The oppressed in Sodom. Hagar in exile. The Hebrews in bondage. David in his distress. Hezekiah in his illness. Anna in her waiting. When the humble draw near to God, he always draws near to them.
The truth is there was one time that the poor cried out to God and he did not answer – Christ on the cross. Jesus’ cry of dereliction, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” was met with the silence of God. Jesus who also never once closed his ears to the poor, went unheard on that Good Friday. Why? So that God could hear the cries of you and me. We who are poor in spirit, we who cry out to God in our spiritual bankruptcy, we who have sown evil and deserve to reap its reward, can now cry out to the God who always hears, because one day two thousand years ago he chose not to hear.
In Christ, we are the poor that have been heard. In Christ, we will always be heard. No matter what we have sown, we reap Christ. No matter what the cause or nature of our poverty, we receive Christ’s reward. May this truth open our ears to the cries of others. May we sow the compassion of Christ in us, just as we know we will reap the compassion of Christ each and every time we cry out to him in our poverty.
You: Do you hear the cries of the poor? How do you respond?
You in Christ: How does knowing that you were heard when you cried out to God in your poverty allow you to hear the cries of others?
Christ in you: How might you show the compassion of Christ to the poor today? This week?
Pray: Father, you always hear my cry. You always give your mercy and love in abundance. Help me to show mercy to others, especially the poor. Amen.
To Live is Christ 