Proverbs 28

<READ PROVERBS 28 ON BIBLE GATEWAY>

The last summer before I graduated from college, I helped lead a team of students on a cross-cultural mission project to Thailand. We stayed on a college campus about the size of Auburn in a town a couple of hours northeast of Bangkok called Khon Kaen. The nine weeks I spent there changed my perspective on many things in life.

The two things that struck me most about the Thai people were their material poverty and their experiential joy. Thai people in general seemed to be full of smiles and hospitality despite their lack of Western comforts that many of us take for granted.

Where I saw this mostly clearly portrayed was during a “vision trip” to a leper colony in the surrounding area. We spent time there working on a road and helping in an orphanage, and then we went out to minister to the people who were living with leprosy. This was a humbling experience in many ways, but the scene that has seared itself deepest in my memory came that night at a church service held for the colony. In an open air sanctuary with dogs under our feet, we sat on makeshift pews as a leper stood before us and, with help from an interpreter, shared his testimony.

The leprosy had clearly taken a toll on his body. He had no hands and his legs were uneven to the point that he could barely stand. The side of his face was deformed and it was difficult for the interpreter to make out what he was saying. But one phrase clearly stood out: “khun pra chuay” (sounded out K-hune-pra-chow). This Thai phrase means “thanks be to God,” and he used it to conclude every sentence.

I remember sitting there in silence and realizing that here was a person who had little material wealth but possessed riches that I may never know this side of eternity. For the first time I saw how some things I had always considered “blessings” might actually be barriers to deeper intimacy with God. I learned that the poor seem to have a special place in God’s economy.

Of course, the writer of Proverbs 28 already knew these truths. Warnings of greed and neglect for the poor appear seven times in this chapter alone. Consider verse 6: “Better the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse.” Also, verse 27 warns us, “Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.”

I still struggle with keeping my eyes open to the needs of those around me. How has God used this chapter to open your eyes?

Yours and His,

Allen Wilson
Director of Student Ministries