130. Blessed in your works
Deuteronomy 15:10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
The condition of this promise is giving to the poor. If you give, then you will be blessed. “It is better to give than to receive.” “Give and it will be given to you.” The Bible is full of encouragements to feed the hungry and take care of the poor. And Christians are generally charitable and generous in giving and sharing.
God promises that He will always take care of what you need when you are busy taking care of the needs of others. When the Lord finds a willing and generous giver He provides that giver with more and more so that the person can be a flowing conduit of God’s goodness to others. God does keep accounts, and He will always give you more than you give away.
God promises to bless you in all your ways, not just with more money so you can give more; the blessings are material, but in a more significant way the blessings are spiritual, mental and emotional. But we take note that the Lord says He will bless you in all your works. This refers to the calling in which God has placed you in life, whether husband, father, etc., etc. The Lord cannot bless you when you step out of “your works” and steal, lie, cheat, defraud, or commit other forbidden sins against God and neighbor. We simply “go about our business” doing the work in which we are called to the best of our ability and happily share our blessing with others. When you try to seek gain by doing things you are not supposed to do there is no blessing in it. We will do “all that we put our hand unto,” within the bounds of God’s Law and within His more specific purposes for our lives.
It is a hard lesson to learn: what we give to others multiplies good, and what we hoard to ourselves diminishes itself and subtracts from the good. Thus we must believe the promise contrary to worldly math. It works like this: 1) God saves and blesses, 2) we are filled with life and love, 3) we gladly give and share, 4) God blesses and gives us even more. And so it goes in an endless happy cycle.