Caring for our Neighbors (Deuteronomy 15:4)

But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess.
—Deuteronomy 15:4

So that’s Deuteronomy 15:4. And Deuteronomy 15:11 says, “For they will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore, I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy, and to the poor in your land.”

So you put these verses together, and clearly God is telling his people, especially as they go into the Promised Land, to care for one another, provide for one another, and guard against poverty among one another. “There will be no poor among you.” God desired for all his people to be supplied plentifully, and you see in God’s law all kinds of provisions to keep people out of poverty and to rescue people from poverty.

Which is why, when you get to Deuteronomy 15:11, God acknowledges that, in this sinful and broken world where his commands are not obeyed, there will be poverty for many different reasons. So God commands his people, “You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.” What a phrase: “open wide your hand” to the poor, to those in need.

And I think the takeaway, as we pray, is obvious, isn’t it? Sure, things are very different from being part of God’s people going into the Promised Land, and from the physical promises of blessing associated with the Promised Land. But clearly we see, all throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament alike, commands to care for the poor, to open wide our hands to brothers and sisters in Christ who are in need, and to people around us who are in need—to love our neighbors as ourselves with wide-open hands.

So, God, we pray in this sinful and broken world, for everyone who is listening to this podcast right now who has clean water and food today, clothes and shelter, and access to medical care, we thank you, God, for your provision of all these things, your abundant grace toward us. At the same time, we pray that you would help us to open wide our hands to those who do not have clean water, who do not have food, clothing, shelter, or access to medical care.

God, please fill us with your generosity toward those who are poor and in need around us. And we pray, practically, that you would help us put that generosity into action. We pray in light of James 2: “What good is it” to say, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but do nothing about someone’s physical needs when they cannot keep warm and well fed? That kind of faith, you say, is dead.

So, God, keep us from dead faith. Help us to care for brothers and sisters in Christ who are in need. God, help us to care for people who do not know you, who are not just in physical need, but in massive spiritual need. As we think about praying for unreached people, God, we think about spiritual poverty—never having even heard the gospel.

A Prayer for the Jat People

God, we pray for the Jat of India, for over 20.2 million of them who have little to no knowledge of your love in Jesus. Please, God, cause the good news, the riches of your grace in Jesus, to spread to the Jat of India. We pray and plead for that.

And God, we pray that you would help us to steward the resources you have given us for the spread of the gospel to people around us and around the world who do not have it, who have never even heard it.

Oh God, please help us to live lives with wide-open hands toward people in need around us. And we pray specifically today that you would give us sensitivity to practical ways your Spirit in us wants to put this prayer into action through us.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.