With the help of your church, can you partner with a church in a poor neighborhood, listening and learning before leaping into action and becoming their neighbors?
Prayer: Lord, since I was a child I have been inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan, who loved his needy neighbor. Yet I have no idea how to truly be a neighbor to the poor, rather than just a donor. Show me and my church how to do that wisely yet sacrificially. Amen.
December 8
Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the LORD will take up their case and will exact life for life. (22:22–23)
OPPRESSING THE POOR. If we want to help the poor, we must become aware of the ordinary ways that society exploits them. One way is mentioned here: crush[ing] the needy in court. The poor who are accused of a crime are far more likely to be convicted and receive greater penalties than others accused of the same things but who have the money to pay for a good legal defense. Governments often are pressured by more well-off neighborhoods to put low-income housing or shelters in already-poor areas, which simply isolates the poor even further (December 7). Banks “redline” poorer communities, making it difficult for individuals or families to get mortgages or business loans. (When one of our pastors moved to a “bad” zip code, his wife found her credit card canceled.) Landlords in the poorest communities can charge a great deal without providing good services because the people of the neighborhood have nowhere else to go.
There are no easy solutions to these problems because they are systemic. These social systems consist of many people who benefit from the exploitation of the poor, but who simply don’t ask questions about the social effects, and who would not be able to easily change things if they did. We would be too discouraged to even try to make changes, if we did not know that the Lord will take up their case with us.
Do you really believe that God holds you accountable for the systems that oppress the poor? Does your stock portfolio reflect that? Your use of free time and disposable income?
Prayer: Lord, I am a participant in society’s systems that push the poor out and keep them down. The things I can do about it will not be dramatic but small. Don’t let me “despise the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10); don’t let me think they aren’t worth doing. Give me the wisdom to see what they might be. Amen.
December 9
Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. . . . Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. . . . Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all. (14:31, 19:17, 22:2)
RESPECTING THE POOR. These three proverbs demand deep respect for the poor. If you insult and disdain the poor, you show contempt for their creator. If, on the other hand, you are kind to the poor, you are being kind to the Lord. Family members know what it is like to be so closely identified with one another that an attack on a spouse, sibling, or child feels exactly like an attack on them. Here God says he’s so closely identified with the poor of the earth that whatever we do to them we are doing to him.
Practically, this means we cannot be paternalistic with the poor, seeing them simply as “cases.” It is common for well-off people to show charity to the poor in a completely self-serving way. If we give small gifts, we do it to feel good about ourselves; if we give big gifts, we want to have some control over the program. Instead we should respect the poor as persons, expect to learn from them rather than thinking we can simply fix them like a mechanical object.
Do you know any poor people well enough to see and respect how they face their problems?
Prayer: Father, you call us not just to pity the poor but to love and respect them. I confess my patronizing attitudes. I admit how often I have condescended to the needy I’ve known over the years. But to insult them is to insult you! How you love them! Let this mind be also in me. Amen.
December 10
Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered. (21:13)
THERE WAS NO ONE TO OBJECT. The sin described is not overt ruthless exploitation of the poor. Rather, the evil is to simply shut [your] ears to the cry of the poor. It is to simply be insensitive, to not give the needs of the poor your time or attention. The result will be that some day you will also cry out and not be answered. This is not so much a threat as a statement of how the world works. On one level it is obvious—haters are hated, ruthless people are treated ruthlessly, gossips are gossiped about.
But on another level, if we don’t create a society that defends the weak, there may be no one left to defend us. So 21:13 predicted what Martin Niemöller said happened in Germany when the Nazis came first for the socialists, then for the Jews and other unwanted citizens, and hardly anyone spoke up. And so “[W]hen they came for me . . . there was no one left to speak for me.”230
A society is as strong as its care for its weakest members. What can you do to make it possible for you and our whole society to hear the cry of the poor?
Prayer: Lord, all sin is also stupidity, and a society that doesn’t care for the poor will ruin itself. Our every-man-for-himself culture is indeed coming apart. Save us, Lord. Ignite a spirit of loyalty to others in our individualistic hearts. Amen.
December 11
A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops. . . . If a king judges the poor with fairness, his throne will be established forever. (28:3, 29:14)
PUBLIC POLICY AND THE POOR. The proper function of rain is to make the ground capable of growing things. A driving rain, however, can actually do the opposite of what precipitation should do. It can destroy a crop instead of watering it. The implication is that the very purpose and function of government is to do justice, and in particular to protect the poor from being exploited by powerful interests. This also tells us that poverty cannot be addressed fully by private charity but requires, as we have seen, changing social structures and laws. Social reform moves beyond relief of immediate needs and seeks to change social conditions that aggravate or create that need.
Job not only clothed the naked but “broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth” (Job 29:17). The prophets denounced unfair wages (Jeremiah 22:13), corrupt business practices (Amos 8:2,6), legal systems weighted in favor of the rich and influential (Deuteronomy 24:17; Leviticus 19:15), and a system of lending capital that gouged the person of modest means (Leviticus 19:35–37, 25:37; Exodus 22:25–27). Daniel calls a pagan government to account for its lack of mercy to the poor (Daniel 4:27).
Citizens often feel helpless to change something as complex as public policy. If you knew God was going to help you succeed, where would you start?
Prayer: Lord, you want all of society’s main institutions to take their part in lifting up the poor. It seems like such a huge undertaking! But show me practical ways for moving my family, my church, and my government toward active compassion for those in need. Amen.
December 12
Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor. (28:8)
BUSINESS PRACTICES AND THE POOR. These texts tell us that poverty cannot be addressed only by private giving and public policy. There are many business practices that must be changed. Many are perfectly legal and yet are not kind to the poor. Many people believe that there is nothing wrong with paying employees as little as one can possibly pay them and still retain them—while charging customers as much as one can possibly charge them and retain them—thereby maximizing profits to the greatest degree, as long as you are charitable with your income. But 28:8 says it is wrong to abuse people in that way.
Part of the Mosaic law was the law of gleaning. Farmers were not allowed to gather all their grain but had to leave some of it for the poor to gather (Leviticus 19:9–10, 23:22). This was not “charity”—this was a way to vol
untarily limit profit taking and do it in such a way that the poor did not get a handout but were able to work for their food. Gleaning is not directly commanded in the New Testament, because it was simply one way (in an agrarian society) for business practices to address the needs of the poor.
Can you think of a modern adaptation of the law of gleaning?
Prayer: Lord, it is hard for me to think about justice without being pulled into today’s partisan fighting over the very definition of it. Help me immerse myself in your Word so I can imperfectly but better see the world through your eyes. Amen.
December 13
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people. (14:34)
JUDGING A NATION. Some say that we can’t judge the moral character of a whole nation, especially today, when so many nations are pluralistic and do not share a single religion or set of moral standards. But that is not what Proverbs says. It says that righteousness exalts a nation. If we remember that the definition of righteousness is to disadvantage oneself to advantage the whole community, then we begin to see how it would be possible to evaluate the heart of a society.
Daniel calls on a pagan king to act justly toward the poor and oppressed (Daniel 4:27; cf. Jonah 3:1–10), and the prophet Amos held pagan rulers accountable—not to a full Christian standard of faith but to a golden-rule standard of justice and fairness (Amos 1–2). In other words, if a nation treats its weakest members with deference and respect, with fairness and compassion, it is exhibiting righteousness.
How are we doing as a nation?
Prayer: Lord, bring my country, by your grace, to be more conformed to your Word in how it practices justice on the earth. Amen.
December 14
The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel. (12:10)
KIND TO ALL THINGS. This proverb says that loving and caring for animals is a mark of being righteous. Deuteronomy 25:4, for example, requires that farmers “not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” When farmers used oxen to drag sledges over the sheaves of grain, to sever the grain from the stalks, they often put a muzzle on the animals so they didn’t eat any of the grain and thereby diminish the farmer’s profits. But God commands that the farmers share the grain with their animals, that they show kindness to them. Even animals are not to be exploited to maximize profits.
Indeed, Deuteronomy 20:19 goes so far as to warn soldiers that besieging a city, “Do not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them. . . . Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?” Believers have been recipients of mercy and grace and new life, so our instinct should be to be merciful to everything. And we want to be like our Lord, who “has compassion on all he has made” and “satisfies the desires of every living thing” (Psalm 145:9,16).
Care for our natural world and everything in it should be a hallmark of believers. In what way do you demonstrate your care for God’s creation?
Prayer: Lord, “man with dog closes a gap in the universe,”231 meaning that you created us to be keepers and lovers of the nonhuman world. We are not to worship nature but to worship you by caring for it. Show me ways and give me opportunities to do that. Amen.
KNOWING JESUS, THE TRUE WISDOM OF GOD
December 15
When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?” (Mark 6:2)
THE ULTIMATE TEACHER. Job’s friends didn’t see how God could be perfectly just and yet bless imperfect sinners. Their lack of wisdom came from not understanding the gospel. To the Pharisees—the “Job’s friends” of his day—Jesus answered. God can be just and a justifier of believers (Romans 3:26) because he was our substitute (Mark 10:45). “The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We . . . put ourselves where only God deserves to be”—in charge of our lives—while “God . . . puts himself where we deserve to be”—that is, being punished on the cross.232
So Jesus was the ultimate teacher of wisdom. Like Proverbs 2:1-5 he too presents “two paths” (2:1–5 and Matthew 7:13–14), but he shows that the path to life is the gospel. This explains how we can at once be both sinners deserving punishment and God’s children under his care. Martin Luther summarized the gospel as simul justus et peccator—in Christ we are simultaneously spiritually lost sinners yet fully justified in God’s sight and loved.
How does the gospel produce the “fear of the Lord”?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, the more I contemplate the gospel—how I am sinful yet fully loved—the more I love you with fear and trembling. The gospel answers so many of the deepest riddles. I praise you for its infinite wisdom. Amen.
December 16
The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. (Luke 11:31)
THE BETTER SOLOMON. Proverbs was assembled by Solomon. Solomon said to wait for God to punish the wrongdoer (24:12), but Jesus took their punishment himself. Solomon said that God is a defender of the oppressed (23:10–11), but Jesus came to become a victim of injustice and stand in the very place of the oppressed. Solomon calls us to write his teaching on our hearts (3:3), but Jesus sends his Spirit to write God’s word on our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3).
Solomon calls us to exercise our wills to obey (1:20–21), but Jesus sends his Spirit to enable us to both want and do obedience (Romans 8:1–8). Solomon paints a picture of the ideal king (16: 10–15), but Jesus is the true King (Matthew 27:37). Solomon failed to obey his own wisdom (1 Kings 11:9–10) and put a heavy yoke on people (1 Kings 12:4), but Jesus is the perfect example of God’s wisdom (Luke 2:52, Hebrews 4:15) and died to free us from all enslaving yokes (Matthew 11:28–30).233 Jesus is the better Solomon.
Can you think of any other ways Jesus fills out and completes the wisdom of Proverbs?
Prayer: Father, when I see your Son standing behind the Proverbs, taking my punishment for failing to obey them, and promising to heal my heart with his gospel and Spirit so I can more and more follow them, I find myself eager to read and apply them. How wise your salvation is! Amen.
December 17
“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” (Matthew 11:18–19)
WISDOM IN PERSON. In Proverbs 8 wisdom is depicted as an actual person with whom God created the world. Also in Proverbs 1–9 God’s wisdom is personified as a woman whom we must know personally if we are to live a wise life. And here Jesus makes a remarkable reference to his wisdom and then speaks of wisdom as “her,” thereby identifying himself with God’s wisdom in Proverbs.
Colossians 1:15–17 and John 1:1–6 tell us that it was Jesus himself who was present with the Father at creation. And as Woman Wisdom offers her disciples food and drink (9:1–3), so Jesus offers himself as the Christian’s food and drink (John 6:53). In short, as Proverbs calls all people to become wise by entering into a relationship with the wisdom that created the world, so the gospel calls all people to get the consummate wisdom, the gospel and the indwelling Spirit of God, through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
See how personal Christianity is, for its deepest secret of wisdom comes not through massive learning and education but through an intimate relationship with a humble man who was as willing to identify with a wise woman as with Solomon and the kings of old.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, if you had stayed in heaven, you would have been a glorious abstraction. But in the pages of the gospel I see perfect holiness in
human form. I long for closer personal intimacy with you. Speak to me through your Word. Be real to me in prayer. Amen.
December 18
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)
WISDOM AND REST. In Jewish writings God’s wisdom is depicted as calling people to take on wisdom’s yoke and to get the rest of soul that comes to the wise.234 Fools are wise in their own eyes—and so they are always chafing because they feel they are not getting respect, or not getting their due. They also want instant gratification. In all these ways a lack of wisdom means a lack of restfulness and contentment.
When Jesus calls us to take on his yoke and come to him for rest, he is saying, “I am the true wisdom.” Do you want the ultimate rest? Only when you see Jesus dying on the cross for your sins can you lay down the ultimate burden, of trying to prove and justify yourself, of trying to earn your self-worth and salvation. The gospel of the cross is the only true wisdom that will give you this rest. “Lay your deadly doing down—down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in him, in him alone, gloriously complete.”235
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