Deuteronomy 15:10
“You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. ”
This passage is in the middle of the instructions about the sabbatic year. Every seven years there is to be a remission of debt. Many felt reluctant to loan an amount to anyone as it got close to this time, as it wouldn’t have to be paid back. This is why Moses says “your heart shall not be grieved”. It was going to end up as a gift, not a loan.
God wants us to be generous. We aren’t to keep an account of things. Just give. Keeping score can create bitterness. This chokes off generosity.
Part of being generous is to give forgiveness. 1 Corinthians 13:5 says, ” it keeps no record of wrongs.” We also aren’t to keep an account of wrongs done to us. Peter brought up this concept in Matthew 18:21. He asked Jesus how much we are to forgive, “up to seven times?” Jesus erased the notion of accounting by answering in verse 22: you are to forgive up to “seventy times seven”.
What about our needs? Today’s verse tells us that The Lord will bless us in all our work. This gets our minds off ourselves. Trust God that He will meet our needs. In 2 Samuel 24 David counted his troops. In this situation this was wrong. God didn’t want David to put trust in the size of the army, but in God. It’s fine to know our resources, but at times it’s anxiety driven. We need to trust that The Lord will meet our needs.
Lord, help us to be a generous people.