ODJ: leaving your edges
May 11, 2010
When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don’t go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows (v.19).
READ: Deuteronomy 24:17-22
Bono, the lead singer for the band U2, is a humanitarian par excellence. He headlined the humanitarian efforts of Band Aid and Live Aid to fight poverty in Ethiopia two decades ago. He continues to make a clarion call to all nations to stand as one as they fight poverty and AIDS in our world.
Long before Bono called for people to stand as one to fight poverty, however, God through His servant Moses called His people, Israel, to stand as one to protect and provide for the orphan, widow, and the foreigner. Moses commanded the people not to withhold justice from these groups of people because they were landless and represented the most vulnerable in the land (Deuteronomy 24:17). Remembering their own years spent in slavery in Egypt—a time when they were vulnerable, helpless, and persecuted—was to motivate the Israelites’ sensitivity to and proper treatment of the poor (vv.18,22).
One practical way they could meet the needs of the poor was through leaving the edges of their fields unharvested (vv.19-21). The edges provided food for the poor in the land. It was a way of showing generosity to the poor and gratitude to God for blessing the land. If they cared for the poor in this way, God would continue to bless their agricultural efforts, and it would express one aspect of holiness and their imitation of God (Leviticus 19:2).
As followers of Jesus, we’re called to stand as one to protect and provide for the poor in our churches, neighborhoods, cities, and world. We can do that by volunteering our time and skill, opening our homes and lives, repositioning our financial resources, and leveraging our influence to satisfy the needs of the poor in our world. When we care for those in need in this way, we reflect the heart of our heavenly Father. —Marvin Williams
In what way can you leave the “edges of your fields” for those in need? How can you invite the poor to glean from the edges of the grace, salvation, and redemption found in Jesus, our Savior?
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