There is a certain tyranny that accompanies utmost efficiency and accountability. When every single seat on every single flight is booked, those on standby are left stranded. When every slice of bread is sold to those who can buy it, those who can’t afford it are left wanting. When every minute of the day is planned and prescribed, there is no time for unexpected interventions of the Holy Spirit.
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.” - Leviticus 19:10 (KJV)
Have you ever decided to attend an event at the very last minute, but it was so well-planned and executed that when you arrived there was not an empty seat to be found? Then, suddenly, you spot just one. You rush over and timidly ask the person seated next to it, “Is anyone sitting here?” The person smiles and says: “Yes, someone is sitting there. You are. We reserved this seat just for you.”
In our concerns over fiscal accountability, how well are we planning to accommodate those who just arrived or those who didn’t feel welcomed until very recently? In our aims for organizational efficiency, how are we reserving room for the latecomers and the lost and the omitted?
In Leviticus, God’s call for holiness among God’s people was a call for compassion to strangers and generosity to the poor. So important was this principle of holiness that God did not leave it up to individuals to decide what compassion and generosity in society meant. God’s instructions were clear: generosity and compassion were to be built into the system of reaping and harvesting. Grapes and grain were to be intentionally left behind, and that which was left behind was not considered wasteful. It was a divine reservation for the poor and the unexpected stranger.
How prepared are we today to accommodate the strangers, the poor, and those in desperate need whom God sends along our paths? Someone is looking for a seat. Is there room near you?
Prayer ~ Dear God, we thank you for not leaving generosity and compassion up to chance. Thank you for reserving a place for all of us who missed the first invitation by circumstance or neglect, for those of us who have just arrived. Amen
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Decatur, Georgia.