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What does Deuteronomy 15:7-11 say about how we are to help those in need?

That God targets the heart and then targets the calendar and the pocketbook. This is because kindness and generosity flow from a heart transformed by God

Closed hands come from a heart that is closed off to our needy neighbour. Why is it closed off? Primarily because we are being selfish. And this means that we are not walking in step with the Spirit of God. We have hard hearts and closed hands because we need to have our hearts refreshed to think three true and fundamental truths:

First, that I am a sinner. To receive God’s mercy, we’ve had to admit our spiritual poverty - which is a much deeper problem requiring a much more costly solution. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9)!

Second, we can be free to give, because God loves us so much! What worry can we have that we won’t have enough because of our generosity!? 1 John 4:19 we read this: “19 We love because he first loved us.” Because we are secure in the love of God, we are inspired and free to love. But notice where John goes from here. He turns from this beautiful reality of our deep security in God to how we in turn are to love God by loving others! The next verses read: “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

This is clearly tied to how we tangibly care for the needy amongst us. Early in this letter, John wrote this: “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18).

Our resources are ultimately the gift of God. “In David’s famous prayer when the people brought offerings for the temple he planned to build, he said, ... all things come from you, and of your own have we given you’ (1 Chronicles 29:14). God is the giver of our resources, and what we give actually already belongs to God”

In the same way, a heart that is transformed is ultimately the gift of God. Brothers and sisters, let us daily plead to the Father, through Jesus, and in the blessed Holy Spirit for forgiveness, but then also for a transformed heart.

But then let our hands go on to action! A transformed heart is not full of mere sentiment and feeling. It is not merely compassionate. No, it must be worked out in concrete actions. This is not an optional aspect of a transformed heart. John the Baptist said this “to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him: ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance’ (Luke 3:7-8).

Tim Keller, pastor in New York says this: “Mercy to the full range of human needs is such an essential mark of being a Christian that it can be used as a test of true faith. Mercy is not optional or an addition to being a Christian. Rather, a life poured out in deeds of mercy is the inevitable sign of true faith” (Keller, 35).

Brothers and sisters, let us pass this test! When we are not passing, we simply need to turn toward our great, merciful Saviour for His grace, and to find our refreshing in Him. Heart transformation always belongs to the Lord.

Deuteronomy 15:7-11 English Standard Version (ESV)

7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’