"Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard."
Proverbs 21:13
This is along the lines of other scruptures that advise us that how we treat others is effectively how we are treating God. If we love God, we have to love other people because everything that we do for or to them is reflected in being symbolically how we have treated God. When he says "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" and then follows it up with "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me" (Matthew 25:40,45), the symbolism might not be all that scary at first. However, if we imagine God's face at the other end of our actions, it makes it all a little bit more real. His advice here is serious. God takes our treatment of the poor very personally.
This verse is similar to that second one. We're going to be evaluated on how we treated the poor, but not just actions. Also inactions. If we want to be heard by God, then we will open our ears to the cries of those in need. This isn't anything new in the scriptures. We're told to treat others as we wish to be treated, to forgive if we would seek forgiveness, to give if we would have God give to us. Today, let's actually think about this, and about what we need from God. Whatever that is today for us, is it something we are providing for others? Let's unstop our ears and listen and act, so that we may be able to confidently ask God to listen and to act on our behalf as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment