Proverbs 15:25
One
of the consistent themes of the Scriptures is that the LORD is concerned for
the least in society, those who can’t take care of themselves. The widows and
orphans are often highlighted. The assumption is that everyone else can take
care of themselves. They can earn enough money to survive. Maybe they can’t
drive an Escalade or have 200 channels of cable TV, but they can survive.
Two
things are very different in our day than in the time of the writer of the
Proverbs. The first is that family took care of family. Neighbors looked out
for each other. There was a sense of community that pulled people together in
times of need. When someone needed
something, others would pitch together and make it happen. The Amish do this
all the time. A barn burns down, and without the help of an insurance check,
the community shows up and rebuilds the barn.
This
sense of community meant that no one starved if anyone had extra. They were in
it together. So when the Proverb says that the LORD sets the boundary stone of
the widow, he is saying that the LORD is part of that caring, supporting,
protecting community. The full faith and credit of heaven is there to protect
the widow’s inheritance.
The
second thing that is different is that everyone worked. There were only a few
categories of those that received: widows and orphans. Everyone else was
expected to do something. Even the crippled could do something. During the
Great Depression the help that was given was connected to work. People wanted
to work. Their dignity was connected to doing something. They didn’t want a
handout.
By
contrast, today, we have many people who don’t want to do anything, and they
expect to be supported. They want to sit around and complain. They are capable
of doing something, but they choose to do nothing. They could volunteer to read
books to school children. They could serve food at the homeless shelters. Thousands
of organizations are desperate for volunteers. They are getting paid something
by the government, why not give them the dignity of work, work that can give
them some reason to get up in the morning.
Now
there is a very small percentage of people who truly can’t do anything. They
are so crippled that they can’t even lick the stamps on a church’s Christmas
card mailing. We can support them. It should be the Church that supports the
widows and the orphans, not the government. The government does a really poor
job at this. In the past, the Church did this, and did it with dignity. Perhaps
it is time to get back to this.