Helping the Poor and Having Happiness
Happiness is possible in this world. Despite the pain, suffering, and disappointment, God has revealed in His word the path to true, lasting, objective happiness. Thus far, I have shown you a number of Psalms which connect our happiness to our relationship to God. Now, Psalm 41 is going to connect your happiness to how you relate to others. In particular, this Psalm will explain how helping the poor impacts your happiness.
Happy is one who cares for the poor; the Lord will save him in a day of adversity. The Lord will keep him and preserve him; he will be blessed in the land.
Psalm 41:1-2a, HCSB emphasis added
I have found that discussions on how Christians relate to the poor can become heated and unprofitable. Psalm 41 does not give a list of ways to care for the poor. It simply gives the objective statement that your happiness is somewhat dependent on how you relate to those around you, particularly to those who are in need.
For this post, I want to first look at Psalm 41:1 and the following verses to see what truths it reveals. Then, I want to put Psalm 41:1 in the context of the Old Testament and the New Testament before drawing some applications for us. The most important instruction for how believers are to go about helping the poor is contained in Scripture.
If you desire happiness, you would do well to understand how the Lord wants you to relate to those in need around you.
Helping the poor: insight from Psalm 41
After declaring “happy is one who cares for the poor”, Psalm 41 gives a couple effects. In a sense, the Psalmist answers immediately the question “how can helping the poor make me happy?” From verses 1-3, there are at least three outcomes of helping the poor that the Psalmist lists: the Lord’s protection, the Lord’s blessing, and the Lord sustaining power in sickness.
The Lord’s protection
The Psalmist first declares that the one who cares for the poor will experience the Lord’s protection.
…the Lord will save him in a day of adversity. The Lord will keep him and preserve him…
Psalm 41:1b-2a, HCSB
Notice the flow of the sentence: it is the one who cares for the poor that the Lord will save. The Lord will keep and preserve the one who is helping the poor. Now, if you read the rest of Psalm 41, you can see that the Psalmist is dealing with a number of enemies. Enemies are planning to harm the Psalmist, and one of the Psalmist’s closest friends has betrayed him. It is in this context that the Psalmist declares:
You will not give him over to the desire of his enemies
Psalm 41:2b, HCSB
The “him” is still referring to the one who cares for the poor. So, the one who cares for the poor is happy first because God will protect him. The question is, how can the Psalmist connect caring for the poor with the promise of God’s protection? The answer to this question is found in the larger OT context. For now, simply understand that the Psalmist is confident that God will deliver Him from His enemies in part because the Psalmist has cared for the poor.
The Lord’s blessing
Next, the Psalmist declares the one who cares for the poor will experience God’s blessing.
The Lord will keep him and preserve him; he will be blessed in the land
Psalm 41:2, HCSB
The Psalmist does not emphasize what in particular that blessing is. But he does emphasize where the blessing will occur: in the land. Again, in order to understand how the Psalmist can say this, you must look at the larger OT context. For now it is enough to acknowledge that Psalm 41 connects helping the poor with God’s blessing.
The Lord’s sustaining power
Finally, Psalm 41 says
The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed; You will heal him on the bed where he lies
Psalm 41:3, HCSB
As if it wasn’t enough for the Psalmist to connect helping the poor to God’s deliverance and blessing, now the Psalmist connects it to God’s sustaining during sickness. Notice that this verse connects with verse 8 a little ways later
“Lethal poison has been poured into him, and he won’t rise again from where he lies!”
Psalm 41:8, HCSB
The Psalmist enemies are either plotting to poison the Psalmist or have already poisoned him. And in the face of this mortal danger to his life, the Psalmist declares God will heal him. Sustain him. Why? because it is part of the happiness reserved for the one who cares for the poor.
Now, Psalm 41 is a good example of a passage that you can draw false implications from if you don’t place it in the overall context of Scripture. If all you do is read Psalm 41 and immediately apply it to yourself without any further thought, you will expect God to always protect you, bless you, and heal you in thanks for you helping the poor. There are indeed implications for us from Psalm 41. But a broader look at Scripture must come first.
Compare every application and implication you get from a text with the rest of the Bible. If you are accurate, the rest of Scripture will confirm you. If not, Scripture will correct you.
Helping the poor: OT context
Now that we have seen the outcomes of helping the poor from Psalm 41, I will do a quick OT survey to help reveal why Psalm 41 can connect helping the poor to happiness. With just a brief look at the OT, three points come up: God makes provision for the poor in the Law, helping the poor is connected to the heart, and how one treats the poor reveals part of one’s relationship with God.
God makes provision for the poor in the Law
And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:10, ESV
In the Law, God provides instruction for how Israel is to provide for the poor. If you are familiar with the book of Ruth, you will know how this works. When harvesting their field, Israel was not to scrape every last bit of produce. Instead, they were to leave some behind for the poor and foreigners to come and get. Notice, the poor would have had to come and work to get the leftover food. But God has provide a means by which the poor could be fed.
If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.
Leviticus 25:35, ESV
God then takes it a step further. Not only does He set up a way for the poor to be fed and support themselves, He commands Israel to house any Israelite who cannot support themselves. It is interesting to note the text says “becomes poor” indicating possibly a tragedy or life event that causes poverty. Widows and orphans are good examples of people who would “become poor” because of a tragic life event in OT times. The emphasis here is God does not want someone who suddenly becomes poor to be rejected or neglected. His chosen people are to care for each other, whether poor or not.
Helping the poor is connected to the heart
Deuteronomy 15:7-8 repeats the previous command from Leviticus 25:35, but adds a new dimension.
If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be
Deuteronomy 15:7-8, ESV emphasis added
The command is the same as before: provide for fellow Israelites who fall into poverty. But this time, God connects withholding help from the poor to hardening your heart. The alternative to hardening your heart is to lend the person what they need. And lest Israel thinks hardening their hearts towards the poor is a light thing, God defines this hardness as evil and sin in the next verse.
Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin.
Deuteronomy 15:9, ESV emphasis added
In this verse, the person has an excuse for not helping the poor person and so does not help him. The result? The poor person will call out to God and the hard-hearted well-to-do person will be guilty of sin. So, God views a hard heart and withholding attitude towards those in need, particularly a fellow Israelite, as sin.
You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
Deuteronomy 15:10-11, ESV emphasis added
Now, God gives the alternative to hard-hearted withholding: cheerful giving to those in need. Again God emphasizes Israel’s hearts should be happy to give to those in need. What is interesting is here God connects giving to the poor to His blessing. This is the same thing the Psalmist does in Psalm 41.
God promises blessing to those who are open and generous with their resources.
Notice, God is not emphasizing here that Israel will end poverty through giving to the poor. He says quite the opposite: there will always be poor in the land. Jesus actually repeats this in Matthew 26:11. God does not say you can end poverty. But He does command abundant generosity to those in need.
The emphasis in Deuteronomy 15 is the heart. To give or withhold free support to those in need is connected to the heart. Guilt for sin is reserved for the hard-hearted or those who give with the wrong attitude while blessing is promised to those who give with an open hand and heart.
How you treat the poor shows something of your relationship with God
The book of Proverbs takes this idea of generosity to the poor revealing your heart and goes a step further.
Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
Proverbs 14:31, ESV
This Proverb connects how one reacts to the poor with how one reacts to God. Oppressing the poor is insulting God, while generosity to the poor honors the Lord. This connection is the final step you need to understand Psalm 41:1. How can the Psalmist call those who help the poor happy? How can the Psalmist see God’s protection, blessing, and sustaining power all connected to helping the poor? We now have the answer.
How you treat those who are in need reveals both your own heart and your relationship with the Lord.
A person who turns away from those in need dishonors the Lord. But the one who loves the Lord and wants to honor him is a cheerful giver. A person who withholds or oppresses those in need is acting like the poor are lesser human beings. But the person who loves the Lord knows all people are made in God’s image. Therefore, the one who loves the Lord treats those in need with dignity and love.
So, the Psalmist in Psalm 41 can trust in God’s blessing and protection not because giving to the poor is a box to check or a lever to pull to get God’s blessing. Instead, Psalm 41 is saying the one who gives to the poor is happy and receives God’s favor because generosity towards those in need reveals a proper heart attitude towards God and towards others. That sentence bears repeating because it is of vital importance.
The one who gives to the poor is happy and received God’s favor because generosity towards those in need reveals a proper heart attitude towards God and towards others.
Blessing comes from helping the poor in the same way blessing comes from any time you live in obedience to God’s word. Happiness comes from helping the poor just as happiness comes whenever you live according to how God has ordained the world rather than living according to self-centered motives.
Helping the poor: what the NT says
The OT survey helped unlock the meaning of Psalm 41:1. But before I apply it, we must look at what the NT says on the subject. How does the NT Church understand poverty? A lot of the OT texts we looked at referred to how Israel was to care for those within their covenant community. Does the NT clarify how these principles apply to the Church? There are too many NT texts to go into here, but three points stand out.
The Gospel and how Jesus gave to the poor
What I find interesting is when Paul was encouraging the Corinthian Church to give to another Church in need, he didn’t quote any of the OT passages we studied above. Paul didn’t cite Deuteronomy 15. He did not quote Psalm 41:1 or any Proverbs. Instead, Paul went straight to Jesus and the gospel.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9, ESV
Why should the Church give to those in need? Because that is exactly what Jesus did for believers at a cosmic scale. Jesus lacked nothing, had everything, was One with the Father from eternity past. And yet, Jesus made Himself of no reputation and came in the form of a servant. Why would Jesus condescend? Why would Jesus bear the shame of dying on the cross?
So that all who would believe in Him would become rich. You see, every human being is spiritually poor.
Even in America where wealth abounds, every single human being has not a penny of righteousness before a holy God.
What can make us right before God? It isn’t anything we earn. You and I cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps in the spiritual realm. You may believe the idea of the “self made person”, you may say “I don’t want any handouts,” you may think you have enough to live off of in a physical sense. But spiritually, every human being is in desperate need of God’s generosity.
And guess what? The good news of the Gospel is Jesus has provided a way you can become rich spiritually. Not through hard work. Through faith, belief, acceptance of His own wealth of righteousness. And it is free, not based on anything you have done or can do. Jesus became poor for you so that you might become rich. He is the only way you can acquire the righteousness you need.
And Paul takes this glorious gospel and says “If Jesus was THIS generous to you at a spiritual level, then everyone in the Church should be chomping at the bit to give even a little of what they have to those in need at a physical level.” Paul connects the two.
Those who have received God’s generosity in Christ on a spiritual level will become generous people on a physical level.
So the question becomes for the Christian, why am I not generous towards others? Why do I harden my heart to those in need? The answer to that question may be because you have not meditated enough on the riches Christ gave up for you so that you might never have to stand poor and spiritually bankrupt before a holy God.
There is still blessing reserved for those who give
A question you might ask after our OT overview is “Well, I’m glad God blessed Israel when they cared for the poor back then. But how can I be sure there God still blesses generosity these days?” Thankfully, God answers that question.
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
Acts 20:35, ESV emphasis added
More blessing comes from giving and helping others than in receiving. There still remains a blessing from God which comes from giving to others. What is interesting is Paul (here talking to the Ephesian elders) connects working with giving to others. He made the same connection in his letter to the Ephesians.
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Ephesians 4:28, ESV emphasis added
So for Christians, part of the reason for working is so you have something to give to those in need. Why? Because there is more blessing in giving what you have earned away to those in need than in simply receiving those wages and spending it all on yourself.
If you are spending all your money on yourself rather than giving to those in need, you are actually robbing yourself of happiness and blessing.
So when you read of the happiness and blessing of giving to the poor in Psalm 41:1 and following, don’t for a second think the principle does not still apply. You have a greater motivation to give to others because you understand the gospel. You also are told there is still blessing in giving to those in need.
Now, time does not permit me to go into other NT principles like those who are unwilling to work should not eat or making sure you are providing for your own household in addition to giving to others. But in light of the gospel and NT teaching, you should at this point see the connection between happiness and helping the poor. With all we have looked at in mind, I will close with some final general principles.
General applications for the Church today
Those who love God will love what He loves. Therefore, you should have a particular care for those in need in your Church and community
The moral and natural law of God both reflect His character. In the OT, God commanded Israel to care for the poor in their midst because God cares about the poor in their midst. As a Christian, the Bible says you know God and should imitate Christ. Therefore, part of your sanctification is progressively loving what God loves and hating what God hates.
If we did a survey of the OT prophets, you would see God’s heart towards the poor and vulnerable even more clearly. But even in this brief study today, it is apparent God cares about the poor. You might ask “If God cares about the poor so much, why doesn’t He do something about it?”
He has.
God has commanded you who are called to display His glory and reflect His values to care for the poor. The book of James goes as far as to call caring for orphans and widows (two very needy groups of people in NT times) as part of “pure and undefiled religion before God.”
Christians should have a particular heart towards those in needs, both for those in need within the Church and those in need in the community. God’s character has not changed. Now, if you want a resource to help you further understand the different categories of “the poor”, I recommend reading this brief and insightful article. I cannot recommend this article enough for thinking through how the Church should wisely and practically care for the poor.
There will always be poverty in the world. Therefore, there should always be generous Christians helping the poor
There will not come a time while this earth remains where poverty will be eradicated. Sound cynical? We have already seen in both the OT and NT that God has said it will be this way. The point of these verses is not to cause you to be fatalistic or hopeless. On the contrary: because there will always be poverty in the world, there is always work to be done.
Ignoring poverty or hoping to eradicate it from the globe are both not the answers. Instead, Churches should reach out to those in need in their community. With what? Both the gospel AND with items to deal with physical needs. Too often I hear arguments over whether the best way to help the poor is to simply preach the gospel to them or to simply give them food and clothing. This is a ridiculous false dichotomy.
The Bible is clear: the physically poor in this world need both the hope of the Gospel and the physical help of food and clothing. Both are in Scripture.
Oftentimes, helping someone with their physical needs will open up opportunities to speak about the generosity of Jesus. There will always be poor people to bless with physical care. That should encourage and spark zealous action among Christians! God has already said it is more blessed to give than to receive. So go pursue the happiness that comes from helping the poor and those in need.
Cheerful generosity will lead to blessing because you are living in accordance with God’s word. If you close your hearts towards those in need, don’t be surprised if happiness is also closed to you.
Let me conclude my going full circle back to Psalm 41. Happy is the man who cares for the poor. From the OT to the NT we have seen that this principle is true. Why? Because you were made to live under God’s rule. Anytime you instead try to rule yourself, you have lost your one path to happiness.
Because God cares for the poor and wants their needs to be met, don’t expect happiness to come when you are hard-hearted or indifferent to those in need. God is the source of all happiness. He has ordered the world so that you cannot find happiness apart from Him. Therefore, as you read what His word has to say about happiness, the only response should be ordering your life according to what God says.
And that includes what God says in Psalm 41:1. May God work in both your heart and my heart so that we are generous to the poor and needy around us!
I highly recommend this brief overview of the different types of poverty Scripture defines. Understanding biblical terms are important. If you want tools for analyzing, understanding and applying texts like Psalm 41, check out my Bible Study Tools page.