316. Monday after Ninth Sunday after Trinity.
God, avert from us
the covetousness of the wicked;
and give us the mercy
of the righteous. Amen.
Proverbs 11, 23-25. The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath. There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
❦
The word of God does not conceal from us that he who does good of an affectionate heart receives an abundant reward of the Lord in return, either in his own person or in his posterity; while he who accumulates ill-gotten wealth accumulates distress and misery for his children. It is a natural law that wealth insures against want, and that a great inheritance makes the children rich; but back of this is the other and deeper law that the blessing of God makes rich, and that our acts of charity are our children’s best inheritance and safest livelihood. What is the fortune of the richest of the rich as compared with the Lord’s ownership of earth and sea and air? Money and bonds will not satisfy hunger; they must be turned into food; and no rich man owns as much as the products of even one little country for a single year. The children of the rich, who divide their parents’ infinitesimal little fraction of the perishable things of this earth, are wretchedly poor as compared with the children of the merciful man, who have access to all God’s possessions, and who receive all that they need of his bounty. If you would become rich, and make your children rich; if you would have more than enough, whether you have much or little according to the world’s way of measuring it, — and if you have an abundance with which to help others; then do you lend at interest to the Lord! As he lives, he shall pay you.
The word of God also says: “Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” And it tells of a widow who gave a farthing, which was more than the great sums given by the rich. He who gives much, in order that he may receive much in return, does not stretch out his hand to give, but to take. All depends on the heart. The heart opens, and the heart closes the hand, and it is to the attitude of the heart that reference is made when the Bible says: “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. For God loveth a cheerful giver.” Lord, be gracious unto us. Make of us liberal souls, which bless, and refresh, and become as an early rain. Amen.*
That man in life wherever placed,
Hath happiness in store,
Who walks not in the wicked’s way,
Nor learns their guilty lore.
That man shall flourish like the trees
Which by the streamlets grow;
The fruitful top is spread on high,
And firm the root below.
[suggested tune: Evan, TLH 416; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.