“For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Blessed is the one who cares for the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble.” (Psalm 41:1)

It’s technically called “the law of the harvest” but we commonly say “What goes around comes around” to refer to the law of reaping what we sow. We see the effects of this law every day. When we’re angry and snap at people, they often snap back to us. When we help someone, the one we helped sometimes comes to our rescue when we are in need.

In this verse, the law of the harvest takes on a different twist. When we give to someone who is poor, that person can’t pay us back, but blessings seem to come our way from out of the blue. It God He’s the One who sees what we’ve done and takes care of us in return.  That’s like Him. Jesus said that it’s no big deal to give to those who can give back to us (see Luke 14:12-14) The really big deal is to give to those who can’t repay us. He loves that.

Most of us have spent a small fortune buying homes in nice neighborhoods to protect our families from poor people. When we encounter them on drives through their parts of town, we hardly notice them, or worse, we make fun of them.

They’re there, and they’re real people with real needs and real hopes and dreams. First, God wants us to consider them, to imagine what their lives are like so that we learn to genuinely care. When we care, we’ll find a way to take action.