| Originally written on October 8, 2009 at 11:40 AM |
Do you know that God has a "special attention" to the poor and oppressed?
A lot of verses in the Bible speak about them and how much God wants His people to pay attention to them. Let's see some of those verses:
Exodus 22:22-23
Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me. I will certainly hear their cry.
Deuteronomy 15:7
But if there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them.
Deuteronomy 15:10
Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
Psalm 72:12
He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them.
Proverbs 19:17
If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord and he will repay you!
Proverbs 21:13
If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.
Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 58:6-7
No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
Matthew 5:3
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
James 1:27
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
James 2:5
Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn?t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren't they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him?
In fact, when Jesus ever quoted reading a verse in the Bible, He chose to read Isaiah 61:1-2 that spoke about the poor, broken hearted, captives and bound.
A coincidence? I don't think so.
I then remember about the story of a good Samaritan.
The poor and oppressed people are exactly like the man who was robbed on his way. They are hurt and helpless. They need other people to help them. In many ways, the poor and oppressed are robbed. They are robbed from a chance to have a better living. They are robbed from equal humanity rights. They are robbed from their freedom.
Then come along few people passing by and none helped him but a good Samaritan who was moved with compassion towards the robbed man, that he ignored his own safety just to help this helpless man. The Samaritan not just soothed and bandaged the wounds of the robbed man, but he put the man on his donkey and took him to an inn where he took care of him. The day after, he paid for the whole medication charges for the robbed man and told the innkeeper to take care of this man until he?s fully recovered and even more, he guaranteed that if the charges were more than the money he gave to the innkeeper, the innkeeper could charge him when he's back to the inn.
The good Samaritan, changed the life of the robbed man. When he didn't have the voice, the good Samaritan was his voice. When he didn't have the money to take of himself, the good Samaritan spent his money to take care of him. When he was left there by the side of the road, half naked and half dead, forsaken by other people who were passing by, the good Samaritan stopped there, got down from his donkey, took off his robe and covered the man, carefully treated the wounds and helped him. When other people think of this robbed man as some kind of filthy disgusting man or just not important enough, this good Samaritan looked at him as a fellow human being, he looked at this robbed man as someone who has the same value and worth as he is, that he decided to risk his own safety to helped him.
That's simply a WOW!
The story was told after a religious expert asked Jesus about the most important commandment which is"You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind."And "Love your neighbor as yourself". (Luke 10:27 - NLT) Yes, it says, "AND" not "OR" In programming language, if you include a coding using an "AND" expression such as ?Command A and Command B? it means one command cannot be executed without the other, both are required. It works the same with that commandment. It is impossible for us to say that we love God but we don?t love our neighbor.
Another interesting verse was written by Apostle John that said, "if someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother and sister in need but shows no compassion- how can God's love be in that person?" (1 John 3: 17) So if we see someone in need and we do nothing, how can we say we love God? How can we say that we have God's love?
I guess that is why God wants us to pay attention to the poor, oppressed, broken hearts, captives and bound, because He wants us to understand His love and help them because they are unable to help themselves, they need other people.
I read an interesting line one day (I forgot who really wrote it) that said something more less like this : we often ask God to do something to help other people, if so then what's the use of us? Yes, God really can do a miracle by His own and turning things upside down instantly, but then again what's the use of us? We are His images in this world, right? We are His representatives whom the world can literally feel, see and touch. He wants us to be His hands and feet, He wants us to be His ambassadors, to carry Him inside of us for people to see Him whenever they see us.
That is why God bless us with His blessings, not just for us but also for the people around us.
Yes, God's heart is for the people and we are His tools. If only we understand His love then we would love those people as well and move into action to do something for them. And the world, i think, will be a better place.
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