Today’s Reading: Proverbs 21

If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard.
Proverbs 21:13

When I learned about Proverbs in seminary, my professor read to us from Amy Vanderbilt’s Book of Etiquette. Such might seem strange, but consider that a book of etiquette contains, among other things, statements for how to live life with others. 

This part of Proverbs contains just that. In these latter chapters of the book, we find a catalog of statements that tell us how to live life with others. Here, we get a decisive, descriptive, and perhaps convicting statement about our responsibility to do justice for those suffering in mind, body, or spirit.

Imagine crying out and not being heard. Maybe back when you were a child, you can remember screaming at night, perhaps terrified by a shadow or a nightmare. If you’re like me, there were a few seconds of waiting in terrified fear, wondering if your scream was heard, until finally a parent came into the room. 

Now imagine crying out, telling others you need help, you have need, and not being heard. Imagine the emptiness, the feelings of loneliness, even abandonment, you might feel. This, the author says, is what happens if we are not attentive to the cry of the poor. It belies our responsibility to help others. Scripture time and again tells us that we were not made for ourselves, that we bear a responsibility to one another. We must hear the cry of the poor: the poor in spirit, in wealth, in empathy, in material possession, in grace, in peace, in hope, and respond.

We can be poor in many ways. God puts us in the path of others to help them when they are poor. Whenever I am poor, God has always provided someone with an abundance of just what I needed, whether hope or joy or perseverance. When we encounter others who are poor, hearing their cries, God requires that we reach out and help. Perhaps we could phrase the focus verse another way, “If you incline your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and be heard.”

Think
Who in your life is poor in some way? What do you have an abundance of that you could give to others? 

Pray
Ask God to reveal the people to you in your path who need you to hear them and respond.

Do
Keep your ears open for the cries of the poor and respond.

Think, Pray, Do. As we respond in faith to scripture, God moves in power through our minds, hearts, and bodies. We are the people of God. Thanks for reading today. Go in peace. Amen.

Think, Pray, Do devotionals by Ted Goshorn follow the suggested bible reading plan from his website and book, Prayer Changes Us. Find this Bible reading plan at tedgoshorn.org/biblereading. If you have found today’s devotion helpful, don’t forget to subscribe for daily emails at tedgoshorn.org and share with others that we may think, pray, and do faithfully.