James 5: 3b – 4 “You have hoarded treasure in the last days. Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.”
GOD DOES NOT LIKE CHEATERS OR PEOPLE WHO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE VULNERABLE!!! Throughout the Old Testament, God warned the Israelites to be careful to watch out for widows and orphans and strangers. And God demanded that His people should pay wages fully and promptly. Deuteronomy 24:14 – 15 “Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. You are to pay his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.”
There are many tests of righteousness, but one of the most fundamental is this one: how do you treat those who are powerless? Are you merciful and generous, or do you try to avoid paying them and force them to wait as long as possible for their small wages?
One of the international tragedies about the COVID – 19 situation is that the restrictions work the heaviest burdens on those who have the least resources. One friend in India informed me that 85% of Indians in his area are day laborers who must work every single day so that they will collect some small money at the end of it. If these people are forced to stop working, they and their families will starve.
“But,” you say, “I don’t do those things! I would never dream of cheating someone in that fashion!” Hmm. Is that true? Search your heart and your mind. Have there been times when someone needed to hear an encouraging word from you, but you were too busy or too tired or too preoccupied? Have you borrowed items and then delayed returning them? Have you left interpersonal conflicts unresolved while you nursed your hurt feelings? Remember, God does not grade on a sliding scale of sins. If you know you need to do something and you have failed to do it, that still is sin. If you know that someone needs your help, but you keep postponing assistance, that is still sin.
One problem we all have is that we fail to understand the deep holiness of God. God is totally righteous and pure and perfect. Viewed from God’s perspective, none of our excuses are worth anything.
What should we do? We must pray and ask God to search our hearts. If there are deeds that we have left undone, God will show us. If as we are praying, God brings someone’s name to mind, we need to ask God to show us what we are to do. And we should try as much as possible to keep short accounts and to make sure that at the end of the day, we have cared for all the vulnerable whom God has sent to us.
PRAYER: Father God, sometimes we look at the world and the needs are overwhelming! But you ask us to start by helping those closest to us. Please let us look around us to see the needs with Your eyes. Let the things that break your heart also break our hearts. And help us to not only sympathize, but to act and to release the resources you have given to us, knowing that as we do so, you will cause more resources to flow through us. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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