Tag Archives: Deuteronomy 15

Open Heart, Open Hands

December 24, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.
Deuteronomy 15:7-8 (NIV)

It is Christmas Eve Day as I write this in the quiet of my home office. Wendy and I will prepare for the arrival of family this evening. It’s the start of what will be eleven days of festivity and celebration.

Sometimes on this chapter-a-day journey there are moments of unmistakable and unexpected synchronicity. So it is with today’s chapter. Moses speaks to his children and grandchildren, reminding them of God’s heart, and God’s ways. He speaks that they might not only hear them, but embrace them, live them, and pass them down through the generations.

Today’s chapter comes with a simple but physical metaphor.

We can live with open hearts and open hands,
or we can live with clenched hearts and closed fists.

Moses then speaks of God’s open-hand prescription for His people:

Cancel debts every seven years.
Release servants who have indentured themselves to survive.
Do not send anyone away empty-handed—fill their hands generously.
Set apart the firstborn and firstfruits for the Lord, for dedication and celebration.

Along the way, God provides some attitudinal warnings:

“Do not be hard hearted and tight-fisted…” (vs. 7)
“Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought (when considering whether or not to lend): ‘The seventh year, the year for cancelling debts, is near.’” (vs. 8)
“Give generously…without a grudging heart.” (vs. 10)
“Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free…” (vs. 18)

I have learned over six decades of this earthly journey that generosity is not first a financial issue, but a heart issue. It is, perhaps, the most accurate barometer of spiritual health. Open-handed generosity is a sign that I have internalized two essential spiritual truths.

First, that God has been generous. Moses has been reminding his children and grandchildren of this for fifteen chapters. It is God who approached your ancestors and made a covenant. It is God who showed up and made Himself known. It is God who delivered you from your chains. It is God who has made you a promise. It is God who has led you, protected you, and provided for you.

God’s message through Moses is this: “I did not release you from your physical chains only to watch you shackle yourselves with spiritual ones.”

Second, that nothing I have is mine. I brought nothing into the world. Every earthly thing I think I possess or own will be left behind. Everything I think I possess or own flowed to me from God, and everything will ultimately flow back to God. When I am generous, I am being generous with God’s things. The more God has a hold on me, the less the things of this world have a hold on me. A hard heart and tight fists are a sign that both are bound by unseen spiritual cords—quiet chains I might not even realize are there.

Which brings me in the quiet back to Christmas Eve Day.

It is God who so loves that He gives—generously—His one and only Son.
It is God who shows up to reveal Himself to us.
It is God who shows up to cancel our eternal debts.
It is God who shows up to free us from our spiritual chains.
It is God who does not leave us empty-handed, but fills us with His Spirit and every good thing.

At Christmas, God provides an eternal object lesson of what Deuteronomy 15 is all about.

The proof of receipt is not in a church membership certificate, but in my joyful extension of that selfless generosity with every one every day.

Open heart. Open hands.

Freedom.

Taking the rest of the week off to celebrate. See you on Monday, Dec 29.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Chapter-a-Day

Living in Community

October 6, 2015 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. Deuteronomy 15:7 (NRSV)

Last week our daughter, Taylor, and I were having lunch together. Taylor returned from Graduate school in Scotland this past summer and has been living with us as she applies for jobs around the country. We talked about our move to the small town of Pella from the suburbs over a decade ago and how that move changed our lives.

Growing up in the midwest there is a spirit of community that still exists, even in the cities. When you live in Pella, however, the idea of community is taken to a whole different level. Neighbors look out for one other. Neighbors lend freely and return favors. Almost everyone is involved in volunteering in the community in some way. It’s a wonderful town. “There’s no town quite like it,” I said to Taylor as we ate our lunch, and she agreed.

I was struck this morning by the number of times the word “community” was used in the chapter. The rules and commands were really geared toward the concepts of how to live together in community. The overarching principles that come out of the chapter is goodwill, generosity and forgiveness. As I read, I thought of numerous examples of how I’ve experienced these principle with my neighbors and examples of how I’ve attempted to live out the same.

Today, I’m thankful for community. No community is perfect. We live in a fallen world and even the Hebrews who received the commands through Moses would find that reality always falls short of God’s ideal in this fallen world. Nevertheless, there are places where you find the spirit of community more than others. I live in one of those places, and I’m very grateful.

Featured photo: Dutch Dancers (all volunteers) entertain crowds and teach traditional Dutch dances on the streets of Pella Iowa during that annual “Tulip Time” festival.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Deuteronomy 16

September 9, 2011 Tom Vander Well 2 Comments

HDR @ the DMV — Image by stevelyon via Flickr

The right! The right! Pursue only what’s right! It’s the only way you can really live and possess the land that God, your God, is giving you. Deuteronomy 16:20 (MSG)

I was talking to a friend on the phone the other day, and he related an experience from his day. Standing at the teller of the local office of the County Treasurer, he was registering a used car he’d just purchased. When asked how much he’d spent to purchase the vehicle he had a momentary mental struggle. If he simply gave an amount that was a few hundred, maybe a thousand, lower than what he actually paid, he would have to pay less tax to register the vehicle.

“Truth wins out,” he heard inside his head, inside his heart. And the struggle yet ensued. There were, I’m sure, all sorts of arguments for being dishonest. It’s not a great amount, no one would know, and who really cares if the government gets a few dollars less on a registration tax in the grand scheme of things. “Truth wins out,” his conscience whispered. Or, perhaps it was Holy Spirit.

He gave the true amount of the purchase, paid the proper amount for registration, and slept much better that night.

I thought of my friend when I read today’s chapter. Little white lies and small dishonesties are easy to get away with. We think very little about them, but perhaps we should heed the challenge in today’s chapter to actively pursue what is right. Little dishonesties have a tendency to grow in unexpected ways and require further deception. Doing what’s right in the little things clears the conscience and paves the way for doing right in much more substantial life matters.

Indeed, “truth wins out” in many ways.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Deuteronomy 15

September 8, 2011 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Give freely and spontaneously. Don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God’s, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors. Deuteronomy 15:10-11 (MSG)

As a child my parents signed us up to provide food for Thanksgiving to a family who couldn’t afford it. I still remember driving with my mother to a section of town that we had always driven through. I remember the house with the run down porch and handing the bags of groceries, the frozen turkey, the cans of cranberry sauce and green beans over to a woman I did not know, whom I would never see again.

I remember my Great Aunt telling me of my grandfather. There were some terrible years after her divorce. Each time my grandparents drove the 200 miles to visit, she said she would clean her apartment the next week and find a fifty dollar bill on top of the refrigerator. Knowing that her pride would never allow her to accept a freely given handout, my grandfather would slip the gift on top of the refrigerator where it wouldn’t be seen until cleaning day.

I remember a friend who, just a few years ago, told me in a passing comment what a miser she considered me to be. It was said in off-hand jest, but I perceived the sincerity of the jab. She really does consider me to be miserly.

And there is the rub. On one hand is the legacy, passed on to me by previous generations, of grace and generosity which I so desire be and to carry on; the desire to be the person described in today’s chapter giving freely and spontaneously: open, purse, open hands. On the other hand is the reality of a sinful and stingy heart that others see and perceive in me and my actions. I feel constantly the tension between Jesus’ challenge to give everything away and my heart’s penchant for hoarding everything for myself.

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Some days I am gratefully reminded that this is a journey and I have not arrived. I am not the person God desires, nor the person I, myself, desire. The work of molding and shaping is not complete. I am a work in progress. The key is to keep moving forward letting the regular motion of the journey keep my heart pliable like clay that is constantly worked in the hands of the potter. If I stop for too long and choose not to press on, then things sit and slowly begin to dry out and harden.

Here we go.