Proverbs 19:17,  He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

You have pity on the poor and the Lord takes on the debt. He will repay!

Talk about loan guarantees! That is the kind of loan that is sure!

In these three proverbs it is obvious that God connects himself to the poor in a special relationship.

God is just and he intends things to be evened up as regards the poor.

He said this in Deuteronomy 15:11,  For the poor shall never cease out of the land: (Jesus said For the poor always ye have with you; The word of God is consistent) therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

This relationship is expressed throughout the Bible with regard to the poor, the orphan and the widow.

This promise to care for the poor is a tremendous source of hope during times of difficulty.

It brings much comfort to those believers who are poor.

Note that our proverb says that God is the Maker of the poor.

This is confirmed in 1 Samuel 2:7,8,  The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them.

And in Romans 9:21 Paul writesm  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

God is the potter and he has power over the clay and with some clay he chooses to make the poor.

Reproach of the poor therefore falls not on the poor but on his Maker.

If you laugh, deride and mock the poor, you reproach God.

You censure God for making the poor.

Who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

Or let me add: Why hast thou made the poor?

Shall a man question the providence of God in making the poor?

But Satan has brought confusion in our age. Who are the poor?

Do the poor of the Bible resemble the poor as defined by the government?

Are the poor of the Bible defined by income levels?

The words used to describe the poor in the Bible have the underlying meaning of "humble, oppressed, needy, weak, dependent."

The poor of the Bible are not those who will not work.

God expects the poor to work.

Didn't he provide for the poor allowing them to glean the remains of the fields and vineyards and harvest the corners?

The Biblically poor are not those who seek something for nothing.

The biblically poor are not those who actively seek handouts and go after programs that, by deceit of their condition, reward them with money.

The biblically poor are not thieves!

The biblically poor are not noisy about their poverty and demanding about rights.

The Biblically poor are those who cry to the Lord because they have none to help them.

The Biblically poor have been wrongfully oppressed and impoverished by unjust men.

Remember the story that Nathan told to David when he said, Thou art the man!

Two men, one rich, one poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds.

The poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished up: ....it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter..

How he loved that ewe lamb and how he appreciated that one lamb that God had given him.

But the rich man was greedy and instead of taking from his plenty, (his own flock) to feed a traveler he took the poor man's little ewe lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

The rich man oppressed the poor man!

James talked about the oppression of rich men over the poor when he rebuked those who respected the rich man in their assembly over a poor man rich in faith.

Doesn't the natural man despise the poor because the poor man can do nothing for him and the poor man is a constant reminder of the natural man's selfishness.

Poor men suffer reproach because it is most probably assumed that they can not take revenge. They are powerless.

James said "Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?" Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

He asked that the brethren hearken to the message that "Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?"

James said the Biblically poor of this world are heirs of the kingdom.

David said that God is the refuge of the poor and that God delivers the poor from him that is too strong for him.

David said that the poor commit themselves to God.

Jesus was anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to preach the gospel to the poor.

He instructed that when thou makest a feast, to call the poor along with the lame, and the blind.

Jesus Christ became poor for your sakes that you through his poverty might be rich.

The more I read about God's care for the poor the more I believe that the Biblically poor are that group of God's children that are oppressed, needy, weak, and dependent.

I believe that the poor of this proverb are the saved poor.

Those who trust in God for deliverance from oppression and need.

And God promises that he will represent them by saying that anyone who mocks the poor will have to deal with him.

And mockers of the poor include those that are glad at calamities.

Those that delight in the misfortunes of the poor.

A Bishop Reynolds wrote in the early 1800's:

Proverbs 19:17,  He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

In this proverb Almighty God offers us a contract with himself.

You don't have to accept it if you do not want to.

You are free to enter into it or you are free not to do so. It is solely up to you.

He says that if you do something he will do something in return.

He wants to make a bargain with you.

And we know that we can count on God to carry out his end of a contract.

There is no doubt about that. But it takes two to make a contract.

This proverb tells us that God wants to be in the borrowing business and you have something that he desires to borrow.

He has given it to you to use for his work and he desires that you lend it to him.

What has he given you? What has he given me?

He has given us the ability to exercise pity and he wants us to use that ability to minister to the poor in his stead.

And he calls this use of an ability for him a form of lending to him.

By this he puts himself under an obligation to us to repay that which we have lent him.

Did you know that you can enter into a contract with God just by exercising pity upon the poor?

He wants to hire our pity!

In our day pity does not have a good reputation because what is passed off as pity is not pity at all.

True pity not only has tears, but true pity has hands,

true pity has feet, true pity brings groceries,

true pity has a wallet, true pity has a purse,

true pity bends and stoops with a helping hand.

We don't see much pity today. What we see today is what is called empathy.

Empathy has a mouth and feelings, but no hands or feet or wallet or purse.

Empathy only extends good wishes,

It doesn't cost to exercise empathy.

Just feel sympathetic. Let yourself go emotionally.

Put on a good show with your feelings.

You may convince folks that you are showing pity. But God knows your heart!

Empathy is cheap, empathy is empty, but true pity will cost you.

God does not borrow empathy. It does not have the value that he is looking for.

But God places a great value on pity and that is why he wants us to exercise it in his stead.

We are his tears, we are his hands, we are his feet, we are his wallet, we are his purse.

That is why he promises to repay us for our investment of pity toward the poor.

Webster's 1829 dictionary tells us that scriptural pity usually includes compassion accompanied with some act of charity or benevolence and not simply a fellow feeling of distress.

It is being a doer, not only a hearer, deceiving our own selves, making us feel good which is a clever trick of the heart.

God, in this proverb tells us that the poor man is the teller of heaven's bank and that is the means that God requires us to use to make a deposit in the Bank of Heaven.

The poor man's hand is the treasury of Christ.

He is God's ATM! Open at all hours, seven days a week, conveniently located.

And the poor do not even know that they are God's teller.

Making a deposit of pity to the poor is one way to exercise

Matthew 6:20,  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

We do not have to be ignorant of how to lay up treasures in heaven.

This proverb tells us clearly.

You are to have pity, in God's stead, upon those that are weaker than you.

That's who the poor are, those who need help, those that are weak!

Being poor may have nothing to do with money.

They may be your loved ones, they may be in this class, they may be your family, or they may be a stranger that displays a need, a weakness.

The Lord of heaven condescends, he humbles himself to be the surety or guarantor for the poor, of the pity that you show in their behalf.

He takes the debt upon himself, and gives us the bond of his word in promise of payment.

He entwines himself with us in a relationship that can't be broken.

Though he has a right to all our abilities and is beholden to none of us he chooses to become a debtor to those who show pity upon the needy, the weaker, the downcast.

Most acts of kindness and mercy made by men and women have been buried and forgotten, never to be recalled by men.

But here in this proverb we find a safe deposit for our kindnesses and our mercies in the heart of God.

God keeps it for our eventual withdrawal and you can be sure that it is kept with a great gain in heavenly interest.

It can never be lost or forgotten or stolen.

This kind of giving of ourselves as lending to the Lord is a definite act of faith for it is believing God for something to be returned to us after this brief time of ours on earth.

God puts the desire into our heart.

He turns our heart to perform a work of mercy.

He opens an opportunity for us.

When done he accepts it as if it had been his own work.

His work, pure and perfect without spot of blemish.

"PROVERB PRACTICALS" Article in "The Projector" for Proverbs 19:17, contracting with god