Proverbs 17:5
The
LORD has a special place in His heart for those who can’t defend themselves.
When we do things that put the defenseless down, the LORD gets offended.
To
put it another way, the attitude we demonstrate toward the defenseless is the
attitude we are showing toward the LORD. We can’t say I love the LORD and hate
my neighbor. The two are always connected.
Our
proverb makes the connection between our attitude toward the least and our
attitude toward the LORD. So who are the least? Scripture talks about the poor,
orphans, widows and foreigners. The foreigners are included because there were
not Hotel 6’s back then. So when someone was traveling, they needed a place to
stay. If they were moving to your community to get a fresh start, or because of
some calamity, they were to reach out to them and include them.
There
should be no gleeful dancing when our enemies are defeated. This applies even
to those with whom we have differences. We have to be careful to recognize
this. It is easy to rejoice over other’s defeat, especially if you have hurt in
your history.
So
many of us are only a paycheck away from running out of money. If we aren’t
careful, we will become the poor. And if we are in the habit of looking down on
the poor, we will end up looking down on ourselves. It is only by God’s grace
that any of us has extra. Yes we work hard, but who gives us the strength to
continue?
Pride.
Most of us hide it pretty well. But when we mock the poor or gloat over those
who have experienced disaster, then we are demonstrating pride. And pride, this
kind of pride, is not good. How can we accept God’s grace if we are proud? We
can’t.