Thoughts for the Day

Friday, 5th March 2021: Helping the poor

God Poor Help Psalm 41

Reading : Verses from Psalm 41

Laptop

Happy are those who consider the poor,
the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble.
The Lord protects them and keeps them alive;
they are called happy in the land.
You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.
The Lord sustains them on their sickbed;
in their illness you heal all their infirmities.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

In the village next to mine one of the pubs has been offering a take-away meal for some weeks, and raising hundreds of pounds (as well as staple foodstuffs), for our local food-bank (PATCH) in Pembroke Dock. It has been an amazing success, thanks to the generosity of the landlords and their customers.

Our Psalm today reminds us that God wants us to help the poor, and during the last year many people have been generous, but we need to be careful that this doesn't wain and we get 'giving fatigue'. If you can, please continue giving, especially while so many people are out of work.

Our psalmist argues that God will heal our illnesses when we are generous to others. Perhaps a slight warning? God's plans are not always ours, but there is no doubt that he does applaud our generosity, and it is what He expects of us. Thank you for giving to others.

Prayer

Lord God,
You call us to help others,
in any way that we can.
Help us to be imaginative,
and generous to assist
those who are in need,
and to continue for as long
as we can.
Amen.

Follow Up Thoughts

How else can we help those in need?

  • We could sort out all our clothes, get rid of anything we don't need, and put them into clothing "bins" or charity shops when they open.
  • We could have a spring-clean and get rid of other things that we don't need - books, china, kitchen items etc - clean them up, and give to charity shops when we can.
  • Give to our local food bank.
  • If you have an unwanted computer, the following charity works in the UK and across the world to help safely recycle computers for those in need: https://turingtrust.co.uk/
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