Leviticus 19:9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
Why would God command His people to not gather all of the harvest? Why would He tell them to intentionally leave the corners of the field unharvested? Was it wasted? No, it wasn't wasted. It was given. God commanded that they leave the corners unharvested for the poor and the stranger. My flesh doesn't have a problem with the poor, but the stranger is a little tougher for me to digest. I mean, they don't have all the necessary information about a stranger, because he is just that, a stranger! That part of the crop maybe could make a big difference in their well being, but they should leave some for someone who they don't even know enough to trust? What is God up to here? Let's be honest, we have all hesitated to give a dollar to someone who we thought might use it for something other than food. Nobody likes being taken advantage of, and we want our charity to be used properly, right? What we fail to understand sometimes is that God doesn't withhold His goodness for only the righteous. If He did, none of us would qualify, would we? God actually uses His goodness to lead people to repentance. Remember Zacheus? He was a tax collector that took advantage of people. I certainly wouldn't care to eat at his home, but Jesus did, and before the desert was served.......repentance became evident. I'm not saying that you should give haphazardly, but don't refuse to give if God is leading you, but you think the person is undeserving. God might be up to something that you can't see right now. The big picture for me here is that we should all be good stewards. Don't spend every penny. Make it a practice to intentionally use part of your God given resources to give without regret.
No comments:
Post a Comment