What Does God Say About Helping the Poor?
God’s Word is clear that we are called to help the poor. It may be a simple encouraging word, a smile or an act of kindness. Or maybe God may call you to take up the cause of the needy by defending their rights.
- Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. — Proverbs 31:8-9
- Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life. — Proverbs 22:22-23
- Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. — Isaiah 1:17
- Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? — Isaiah 10:1-3
- It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy. — Proverbs 14:21
- There need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. — Deuteronomy 15:4-5
- If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. — 1 John 3:17
Wonderful messages are included in each of those verses which help us identify what God says about helping the poor. The last one in this category is especially meaningful. God challenges us to not only speak about loving the poor. We are called to love with action and in truth!
At Compassion International, that is our mission. We provide you with a practical way to love the poor and needy through action.
It is helpful to study the Scriptures on taking care of the poor because they provide helpful insight on how to accomplish God’s command to care for the needy, as well as the blessing that comes from helping others.
- A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. — Proverbs 11:25
- Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. — Proverbs 14:31
- And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: This is what the Lord Almighty said: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.” — Zechariah 7:8-10
- Then Jesus said to his host . . . When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. — Luke 14:14
- “I have the right to do anything,” you say — but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” — but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. — 1 Corinthians 10: 23-24
- If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. — Deuteronomy 15:7-8
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