From the upcoming book, The 1 Minute Guide to Health, Wealth, and Happiness: Wisdom from the book of Proverbs. Please read chapter 21 of Proverbs to get the most benefit.

Today's power verse comes from verse 13: Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

When I started doing research in the word shall I came to find out it was the strongest word we have in the English language. Just to recap, the word shall means something that is mandatory and is confirming to what was said. So when you see the word shall in Scripture, it's an indicator of what has to be.

One of the ways that we know what is in our hearts is by the way we treat the poor. God takes the caring for the poor seriously. Seriously enough too let us know over and over again in Proverbs that if we neglect the poor, we will reap severe consequences. If we do not, we will reap many blessings.

Here in this verse, we are told that if we will not hear the cries of the poor, when we cry out, we ourselves will not be heard. This is how serious God is about taking care of those who are not at the point where they can help themselves.

Do you know the story of the good Samaritan? It's found in the book of Luke, chapter 10 starting in verse 30. A Jewish priest and a Levite didn't have the time to tend to their own wounded citizen. They left him helpless in a ditch. And yet, it was the Samaritan, who grew up having "no love lost" between the Samaritans and the Jews, who stopped to take care of this wounded man. Later, the good Samaritan was blessed.

God watches out for the poor. This is something we are not to forget. We are made in God's image and likeness, which means we are made to function like Him.

Function like God today and do something good for the poor. It doesn't have to be big, just from the heart.

NOTES
What can you do to help the poor today?
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