25 I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his descendants begging bread.
26 All day long he is gracious and lends,
And his descendants are a blessing.
— Psalm 37:25-26 —
In the early days of my marriage, my husband was working in the field as an ironworker. It was an industry where, if you don’t work you don’t get paid, and it was also an industry where lay-offs were an on-going reality. There were many times when he would be laid off for a long period of time, and when side jobs were unavailable, things got “lean”.
I was in a Saturday morning “prayer share” with a few women from my church. As I was sharing my concern about making ends meet, an elderly lady by the name of Grace relayed to me how when she was younger and her husband was away working, there were times when literally she had nothing to feed her 6 children. (That was wayyyyy worse than what I was experiencing. When Mike was laid off for months at a time, it became harder and harder to pay the bills, but I still had things in the pantry to feed my family).
That Saturday morning Grace used Psalm 37:25 to encourage me. She testified that she and her kids never went hungry. She shared with me the story of while she was praying one afternoon about how she would feed her kids that evening, she heard a noise on her front porch. When she went to investigate, there were boxes of food, from which she and her children ate for a week!
I have been working my way through Psalm 37, studying verse by verse. As I began this morning, I saw that verse 25 and 26 actually go together. It’s almost as if the promise of verse 25 is given added explanation. The righteous person isn’t forsaken, nor their descendants begging bread. WHY?? Because all day long he is gracious and lends. Wow. This righteous person never went without because he was gracious and gave despite his need.
God brought to mind Elijah and the widow at Zarephath (1 Kings 17:7-16).
“7 It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. 8 ¶ Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering fna few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13 Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. 14 “For thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the face of the earth.’” 15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah.”
This woman gave out of her need. And the result?? “She and (Elijah) and her household ate for many days. The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty…”. You may be thinking, “but that was a miracle”. You’re right! It was. But we today serve the same God who did that miracle.
GOD IS STILL A GOD OF MIRACLES!!
Circling back to Psalm 37:25-26, let’s look a little closer at verse 26. Two words are used to describe this righteous person who isn’t forsaken. He is gracious, and He lends. The word “gracious” in Hebrew means “to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor, bestow”. To stoop in kindness to an “inferior” — this indicates to me the lesson that, while we may be experiencing need ourselves, there is always someone worse off than we are. (Just like when I heard the story from my elderly friend, I realized I didn’t have it as bad as she once did). But, think this through with me. In order to meet the needs of another person, you have to be thinking of someone besides yourself and your own needs. You must be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit who illumines the needs of others and prompts you to meet those needs.
Looking deeper at the second word used to describe this righteous person, the Hebrew word for “lend” means, “to twine, i.e. (by implication) to unite”. Two things come to mind when I read that definition. First, you look at the needs of another and consider them “your needs”. Second, when God reveals to you the need of another, your heart is united with that person because, having needs yourself, you can empathize with what they are going through.
Jesus’ taught “love your neighbor as yourself”. Consider that for a minute. God is SO SMART! He knows how we are wired. He knows how, in our humanness, we are self-centered people. So what did He do? He compared what comes naturally (loving self) with how He desires us to love others. Love someone else — strive to meet their needs — as diligently as you would strive to meet your own.
PAUSE TO PONDER. Matthew 6:25-33— “25 For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
God is aware of your needs, just as He is aware of the needs of others. Perhaps God is desiring to use you to meet the needs of someone else. Choosing to look beyond “self” and to be giving, despite your own needs; this is the way of the Kingdom of God.
25 I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his descendants begging bread.
26 All day long he is gracious and lends,
And his descendants are a blessing.
— Psalm 37:25-26 —