Considering the Homeless and the Poor

Haven't used this blog for a while. Things have been busy. :) But it's time to start again.

For quite a while now I've struggled with whether to give to beggars and the homeless. Modern conventional wisdom teaches me that it's no help to them if they're going to spend it all on drugs, or if it teaches them that they don't need a job to get by. Some friends have cited safety concerns in extending help to someone who is on the street. Others say giving a homeless person a dollar isn't very effective whereas giving to programmes to help homeless get off the street is more effective (which makes me wonder, couldn't we do both?).

At the same time, my own intuition (and several insightful articles I've read) tells me that that perspective oversimplifies the problem. I think there is indeed a trap of homelessness - it's remarkably hard to save money when every meal you eat has to be cooked food, you don't have basic amenities like toilets and a shower without paying, and you don't have an address (which is often needed for things like jobs and bank accounts). And if you spend your day doing nothing because you can't get a job, you don't have any colleagues, you don't have many friends, and I can see how easy it would be to turn to drugs as a form of (for lack of a better word) emotional support.

Most importantly, I doubt anyone, even the homeless, would choose to beg on the streets if they could help it. And who's to say whether that homeless guy asking for money isn't someone who is working hard at getting a job and trying to get off the street but hasn't succeeded yet? I dare not ignore the homeless person by refusing to give him the benefit of doubt.

But all of that is just speculation. Who wants to give away a dollar to a stranger when you have doubts over whether it's going to help them or not? At the same time, are my concerns over the effectiveness of giving just a well-reasoned excuse to not care about the unsightly homeless? So sometimes I give and I feel good, sometimes I don't and I don't know whether to feel bad. Most of all, I feel confused.

So, as one does when one is in limbo, I've been praying. For a while now. God, help me to be convinced, one way or the other. I'm fine giving, and I'm fine not giving, but I want to know what You think about it.

~~

Then, completely randomly, one morning last week I woke up with this verse in my head:

"'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God.'" (Lev 23:22)

As my wife knows, I'm hardly coherent when I first wake up (or even 20 minutes later). But instantaneously, that clarified it for me and I knew it was God. In my mind, the modern day equivalent of this verse is leaving my loose change available for the poor and needy around me. It doesn't matter if they spend it poorly - that's their choice and their journey towards wisdom. What matters to me is that God set a precedent in Old Testament times, that those who have more than enough for themselves should habitually leave remnants from their own resources available for the poor to have access to.

It's not that I think I am now 'required' to give all my loose change to every beggar I see. We are in New Testament times and this is no longer a 'law' in the same sense for us. So if I feel uncomfortable giving to a particular person, I won't. But if I feel nothing, my default will be to drop at least a coin or two, because this is one way to take care of the poor that God has shown me.

Praise God for speaking to me and answering a prayer for understanding!

I encourage you to let me know what you think. Perhaps this hits the nail on the head, or perhaps I'm hearing God wrong. And if this touches you, maybe you'll be persuaded to do the same. :)