God’s Word for You
Proverbs 28:19-21 Forgiveness
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, November 5, 2020
19 He who works his land will have plenty of food,
but the one who chases fantasies will have plenty of poverty.
This proverb has a clever turn on the word “have plenty” (Hebrew yisbah). The person who works hard will be blessed with what he or she needs. Even though the saying focuses on working the land, planting and harvesting crops, it doesn’t leave out other forms of work. Those who herd flocks, or milk cows, or make tents, or bring in catches of fish, or are doctors or nurses, or ten thousand other careers in the world, will also be blessed with what they need. Their hard work will fulfill the natural desire to be useful, and will also fulfill the Christian’s natural desire to thank God with our lives and service.
20 A faithful man will have many blessings,
but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.
21 To show partiality is not good—
yet a man will commit a sin for a piece of bread.
These proverbs show the depth of sin in some people. Greed is an ancient and universal temptation. God says, “I was enraged by his sinful greed; I punished him, and hid my face in his anger, yet he kept on in his sinful ways” (Isaiah 57:17).
In verse 21, we see a poor man who is so desperate to cling to life that he has to resort to stealing to stay alive. The shame is on the one described in the first line, the one who showed partiality by failing to take care of the poor and the needy. “When you give a banquet,” Jesus said, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed” (Luke 14:13-14). By this he means, don’t play favorites with people who might repay you. See to the needs of those who can’t pay you back, because this is one of the reasons God has given you the wealth that you have.
But is there forgiveness for the one who once was eager to get rich, or played favorites with the wealthy and ignored the poor? Or any grievous sin? Consider Moses, who was a murderer, and was forgiven his sin, and called into God’s service as a prophet, a prophet so far outside the usual definition of a prophet that we must place Moses in a class all by himself.
Or Matthew the tax collector. His was a life of getting rich, playing favorites, being greedy, and ignoring the needs of the poor. But Jesus called him to repentance. When he was questioned about whether this was the right thing to do, Jesus said: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Matthew 9:12). In fact, when God condemned the greedy through Isaiah, he added a message of comfort for the repentant: “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him” (Isaiah 57:18).
And what about Peter, who denied his Lord just as surely as Judas with the foulest of curses (Matthew 26:74), resorted to violence (John 18:10), and committed other sins? The Lord saw his repentance, soothed the pain of his doubt and grief, and called him back into service in God’s kingdom with gentle words: “Do you love me?” And the sinner replied, “You know that I love you” (John 21:17).
And what about Paul, another murderer, who rejected Christ and Christianity for his own idea of a path to heaven, and who breathed out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples (Acts 9:1)? The Lord asked him directly, “Why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). He was considered worthy to serve the Lord and to teach the summary of Christian doctrine to God’s people, writing thirteen letters of the New Testament with his own voice and hands.
What sins have you committed? What wayward life, dangerous sins, shameful past sits like a spoiled potato in a drawer, festering and putrefying in your heart? Christ has already forgiven your sins. Dump the rottenness out; let the love of Christ cleanse your heart and bring you fully into his loving arms. You may not feel worthy of much, or not worthy of anything at all, but Jesus has given you his worthiness. Don’t reject the love of Jesus. Cherish his love, sink into his embrace, and know that he has set your sins behind him and behind you for all time and forever. Understand the compassionate, embracing hug of God’s own arms around you: “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, shielded by him all day long. The one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders” (Deuteronomy 33:12). The beloved of the Lord is you.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.