We read an interesting Proverb today, didn’t we? “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.”

I think that this is a particularly big struggle that we face in modern times, because we are more aware than at any other time in history of the cries of the poor! (And not just the monetarily poor, but those who are powerless- unborn children, displaced refuges, Christians living in hostile nations with no way out, women and children who are being kidnapped, raped and murdered by militants, women and children entrapped in sexual slavery, foster children, orphans…..) The Bible is telling us that if we turn a blind eye to these atrocities when it is in our power to help, then God will not answer our prayers. Wow!

In the book of Daniel we see a similar situation. In Daniel chapter four King Nebuchadnezzar has a strange dream and asks Daniel to interoperate it. The interpretation tells King Neb. that his kingdom is going to be destroyed because of his own bad behavior. At the end of telling the King what God is saying through the dream, Daniel says, “Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice; Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.”

God clearly takes, quite seriously, the help that we give to others. Our very prayers may depend on it!