Psalm 37 (Part 12) – Psa 37:21 – Borrowing Money and Giving to Those in Need

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Psa 37:21 – “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.”

1. The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again.
2. A characteristic a wicked person is that he doesn’t pay his debts.
3. We should not postpone paying debts when we have the means to pay them (Pro 3:28).

iii.    Debt is slavery (Pro 22:7).

1. Christians should stay out of debt as much as is possible (Pro 22:7 c/w 1Co 7:23; Rom 13:8).
2. Christians should establish themselves in a career and save money for a sufficient down payment on a house before purchasing one (Pro 24:27).
3. Christians should be loaning money, not borrowing money (Deu 15:6; Deu 28:12).

vii.  Part of God’s curse of Israel for their wickedness was that they would be borrowing money and not lending it (Deu 28:44).

viii.If a Christian does borrow money, he should keep his word and pay it back according to the terms of the loan.

1. Another way in which a man can borrow and not pay again is by not paying a man for his labor.
2. This could be by not paying one’s employees (Jam 5:4; Deu 24:14-15; Lev 19:13; Mal 3:5).
3. This could also be by taking advantage of a neighbor or a friend by using his service and not paying him for it (Jer 22:13).
4. Outside of family and close friends, who often do favors for each other, we should offer to pay someone when he does something for us.
5. The righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.
6. Instead of borrowing and not repaying, a righteous person shows mercy toward the needy and gives to them.
7. We should not withhold help from those who need it when we are able to do it (Pro 3:27).

iii.    The wicked lazy man covets all day long, but a righteous man gives liberally (Pro 21:25-26).

1. When we give to the poor we are lending unto God and He will repay us and bless us for it (Pro 19:17; Pro 22:9; Mat 25:34-40).
2. If we give unto the poor, the LORD will make sure that we don’t lack (Pro 28:27).
3. As we have opportunity, we should do good unto all men, but especially to our brethren (Gal 6:10).

vii.  While a good man will give or lend unto the poor, he should also do so with discretion (Psa 112:5).

1. Sometimes giving people money who are in need is more harmful than helpful.
2. Here are my personal recommendations.
3. If someone is poor due to no fault of their own, then we should give liberally to them. This would include situations such as the following:

(i)     Serious illness that requires costly medical treatment or prevents him from working.

(ii)   An accident that disables him or causes large medical bills.

(iii) Loss of a job for a prolonged period due to no fault of his own.

(iv) A natural disaster.

1. If someone is in financial trouble due to foolish choices and living beyond his means, then we should either not help him and let him suffer the consequences of his actions, or we should help him only under certain conditions.

(i)     No job

1. If the person doesn’t have a job and has no family to help him, then help should be given for a limited, predefined amount of time.
2. If a job is not found in that amount of time, then the aid needs to be cut off.
3. If a job (any job) is offered to him and he refuses it, then the aid needs to be cut off.

(ii)   Has a job

1. If the person has a job, then help should only be given contingent on him balancing his budget.
2. No money should be given to such a man until he provides a complete accounting of his income and all of his expenses.
3. If his expenses exceed his income, then enough money should then be given to him to enable him to pay his bills for the current month.
4. If his expenses do not exceed his income, he either doesn’t need help, or he has not listed all of his expenses and he must then do so.
5. We should then go through his list of expenses and start cutting everything that is not absolutely necessary and reducing those that can be.
6. This could be cell phones, cable TV, subscriptions, memberships, going out to eat, entertainment, grocery expenses, car payments, rental or house payments, etc.
7. If the man cuts everything that can be cut and he still doesn’t have enough to make ends meet, then his must look for a higher paying job, or for an additional job.
8. If he is unwilling to make the cuts, then the aid should be cut off.
9. Helping a man in this way is truly helping him.
10. Helping him indiscriminately is not truly helping him, but is harming him.