THE TILLAGE OF THE POOR:THE RESPONSIBILITYOF SMALL GIFTStaken fromProv - PDF document

THE TILLAGE OF THE POOR:THE RESPONSIBILITYOF SMALL GIFTStaken fromProverbs 13:23Buddy Dano, PastorDivine Viewpointwww.divineviewpoint.com164March 1990 THE TILLAGE OF THE POOR:THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SMALL GIFTS Proverbs 13:23, ‘‘Much food is in the till-age of the poor: but there is that is destroyedfor want of judgment.’’ alestine was a land of small peasant pro-prietors, and the institution of the Yearof Jubilee was intended to prevent the acqui-sition of large estates by any Israelite. Theconsequences, as intended, were a level ofmodest prosperity. It was ‘‘the tillage of thepoor, the careful diligent husbandry of theman who had only a little patch of land tolook after, that filled the storehouses of theHoly Land.Hence the proverb of our text arose. Itpreserved for us the picture of the economi-cal conditions in which it originated. And itis capable of, and is intended to have, an ap-plication to all forms and fields of work. Inall it is true that the bulk of the harvested re-sults are due, not to the large labors of thefew, but to the minute, unnoticed toils of themany.Small service is true service. And theaggregate of such produces large crops.Spade husbandry gets most out of theground. The laborer’s allotment of half anacre is generally more prolific than the aver-age of the squire’s estate. Much may bemade of slender gifts, small resources, andlimited opportunities, if carefully cultivated,as they should be, and as their very slender-ness should stimulate their being.One of the Psalms addresses, ‘‘The chil-dren of Ephraim’’ because they ‘‘armed and carrying bows, they turned backin the day of battle.’’ That saying deduces ob-ligation from equipment and preaches astringent code of duty to those who are inany direction largely gifted.Power to its last particle is duty, and notsmall is the crime of those who, with greatcapacities, have small desire to use them,and leave the brunt of the battle to half-trained soldiers, badly armed. But the im-agery of the fight is not sufficient to includeall the aspects of the Christian life. Thepeaceful toil of the husbandman that labors,stands in one of Paul’s letters, side by sidewith the heroism of the man that wars.Our text gives us the former image, andso supplements that other. It completes thelesson of the Psalm in another respect, as in-sisting on the importance, not of the wellen-dowed, but of the slenderly furnished, whoare immensely in the majority.This text is a message to ordinary, me-diocre people, without much ability or influ-ence. First, it teaches the responsibility ofsmall gifts. It is no mere accident that in ourLord’s great parable, He represents the manwith the one talent as the hider of his gift.There is a certain pleasure in doing whatwe can do, or fancy we can do well. There isa certain pleasure in the exercise of any kindof gift, be it of body or mind. But when weknow that we are but very slightly gifted byHim, there is a temptation to say, ‘‘It doesn’tmatter much whether I contribute my shareto this, or the other work, or not. I am apoor man. My fifty cents will make but asmall difference in the total. I am possessedof very little leisure. The few minutes that Ican spare for individual cultivation, or forbenevolent work, will not matter at all. I amonly an insignificant unit. Nobody pays anyattention to my opinion. It does not in theleast signify whether I make my influencefelt in regard to the social, spiritual, or politi-cal questions and the like. I can leave all thatto the more influential men.’’The littleness at least has the prerogativeof immunity. ‘‘My little finger would pro-duce such a slight impact on the scale, that itis indifferent whether I apply it or not. It is agood deal easier for me to wrap up my tal-ent, which, after all, is only a nickel and not The Tillage of the Poor:1The Responsibility of Small Gifts a talent, and put it away and do nothing.’’Yes, but then you forget that responsibilitydoes not diminish with the size of the gifts.But that there is a great responsibility for theuse of the smallest, as for the use of the larg-est. And that although it doesn’t matter verymuch to anybody but yourself what you do,it matters all the world to you.But in addition, the text tells us that itdoes matter whether the poor man sets him-self to make the most of his little patch ofground or not. ‘‘There is much food in thetillage of the poor.’’ The slenderly endowedare the immense majority. There is a geniusor two here and there, dotted along the lineof the world’s and the Church’s history. Thegreat men and the wise men and thewealthy men may be counted by units, butthe men that are not very much of anythingare counted by millions.Unless we can find some stringent lawof responsibility that applies to them, thebulk of the human race will be under no obli-gation to do anything either for God or forothers, or for themselves. If I am absolvedfrom the task of bringing my weight to bearon the side of right because my weight is in-finitesimal and I am only one in a million,suppose all the million were to plead thesame excuse. What then? Then there wouldnot be any weight on the side of the right atall.The barns of Palestine were not filled byfarming on a great scale, like that pursuedway out on the western prairies, where oneman will own, and his servants will plow afurrow for miles long. But they were filledby the small industries of the owners of tinypatches. The ‘‘tillage of the poor’’ meaningthereby not the mendicant, but the peasantowner of a little plot, who yielded the bulkof the ‘‘The wholesome old proverb, ‘‘many lit-tles make a nickel,’’ is as true about the influ-ence brought to bear in the world to arrestevil and to sweet corruption as it is aboutanything besides. Christ has a great dealmore need of the cultivation of the smallpatches that He gives to the most of us thanHe has even of the cultivation of the largestestates that He bestows on a few.Responsibility is not to be measured bythe amount of the gift. But is equally strin-gent, entire, and absolute whatever be themagnitude of the endowments from which itarises.Let me remind you how the same vir-tues and excellencies can be practiced in theadministering of the smallest as in that ofthe greatest gifts. Some say, ‘‘Oh, if I wereeloquent like So-n-so, rich like So-n-so, aman of weight and importance like someother, how I would consecrate my powers tothe Lord. But I am slow of speech, nobodyminds me, or I have very little that I cangive. Yes, ‘‘He that is faithful in that whichis least is faithful also in much.’’If you do not utilize the capacity pos-sessed, to increase the estate would only beto increase the crop of weeds from its culti-vated clods. We never palm off a greater de-ception on ourselves than when we try tohoodwink conscience by pleading boundedgifts as an excuse for boundless indolence.And to persuade ourselves that if we coulddo more we should be less inclined to donothing.The most largely endowed has no moreobligation and no fairer field than the mostslenderly gifted lies under and possessed.All service coming from the same motiveand tending to the same end is the samewith the Lord. Not the magnitude of the act,but the motive thereof determines the wholecharacter of the life of which it is a part.The same graces of obedience, consecra-tion, quick compassion, self-denying effort,may be cultivated and manifested in thespending of a nickel, as in the administra-tion of millions. The smallest rainbow in thetiniest drop that hangs from some sootycave and catches the sunlight has preciselythe same lines, in the same order as the greatarch that strides across the whole sky.If you go to the giant’s causeway, or tothe other end of it almost the scotch he-brides, you will find the hexagonal basalticpillars all of identically the same pattern and The Tillage of the Poor:The Responsibility of Small Gifts2 the same shape. Whether their height bemeasured by feet or by tenths of an inch, bigor little, they obey exactly the same law.‘‘There is much food in the tillage of thepoor. Secondly, notice how there must be adiligent cultivation of the small gifts.The inventor of this proverb had lookedcarefully and sympathetically at the way inwhich the little peasant proprietors worked.And he saw in that a pattern for life. It is notalways the case, of course, that a little hold-ing means good husbandry. But it is gener-ally so. And you will find few waste cornersand few unweeded patches on the ground ofa man whose whole ground is measured byrods instead of miles. There will usually belittle waste time. And few neglected opportu-nities of working in the case of the peasantwhose subsistence, with that of his family,depends on the diligent and wise croppingof the little patch that does belong to him.If you and I have to take our place in theranks of the one-talented men, the common-place run of ordinary people, the more rea-son for us to enlarge our gifts by a sedulousdiligence, by an unwearied perseverance, bya keen look out for all opportunities for serv-ice. And above all, by a prayerful depend-ence upon Him from whom alone comes thepower to toil, and who alone gives the in-crease. The less we are conscious of largegifts, the more we should be bowed in de-pendence on Him from whom cometh everygood and every perfect gift. And Who givesaccording to His wisdom, and the more ear-nestly should we use the slender possessionwhich God may have given us.Industry applied to small natural capac-ity will do far more than larger powerrusted away by sloth. You know that it is soin regard of daily life, and common busi-ness, and the acquisition of mundane sci-ences and arts. It is just as true in regard tothe Christian race, and to the ChristianChurch work of witness.Who are they who have done the mostin this world for God and for men? Thelargely endowed men? ‘‘Not many wise, notmany mighty, not many noble are called.’’The coral insect is microscopic, but itwill build up from the profoundest depth ofthe ocean a reef against which the whole Pa-cific may dash in vain. It is the small giftsthat, after all, are the important ones.So, let us cultivate them the more ear-nestly, the more humbly we think of ourown capacity. Play well thy part. Here allthe honor lies. God, who has builded upsome of the towering Alps out of micaflakes,builds up His Church out of infinitesimallysmall particles, slenderly endowed mentouched by the consecration of His love.Thirdly, let me remind you that the har-vest reaped from these slender gifts whensedulously tilled. Two great results of suchconscientious cultivation and use of small re-sources and opportunities may be suggestedas included in that abundant food of whichour text speaks.The faithful uses faculty increases. ‘‘him that hath shall be given.’’ Some say,‘‘Oh, if only I had a wider sphere how Iwould flame in it, and fill it.’’ If so, thentwinkle your best in your little sphere, andthat will bring a wider one some time orother.For as a rule, and in the general, thoughwith exceptions, opportunities come to themen that can use them, and roughly, but yetsubstantially. Men are set in the worldwhere they can shine to the most advantageto the Lord. Fill your place. And if you like,like Paul, have borne witness for the Lord inlittle Jerusalem, He will not keep you there,but carry you to bear witness for Him in im-perial Rome itself.The old fable of the man who told hischildren to dig all over the field and theywould find treasure, has its true applicationin regard to Christian effort and faithfulstewardship of the gifts bestowed upon us.The sons found no gold, but they improvedthe field, and secured its bearing golden har-vests, and they strengthened their own mus-cles, which was better than gold.So, if we want larger endowments, let ushonestly use what we possess, and use willmake growth. The Tillage of the Poor:3The Responsibility of Small Gifts The other issue is that the final rewardof all faithful service is ‘‘Enter thou into thejoy of the Lord.’’ It is said, not to the bril-liant, but to the ‘‘faithful’’ servant.In that great parable, which is the verytextbook of this whole subject of gifts and re-sponsibilities and recompense, the men whowere entrusted with unequal sums use thesemanifested by the fact that they realized anequal rate of increase. He that got two tal-ents made two more out of them. And hethat had five did no more. For he too, butdoubled his capital. So because the poorermeasured estates, they were identical in re-ward, and to each of them the same thing is‘‘Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’’It matters little whether we copy somegreat picture upon a canvas as big as themain thing is that we copy it. If we truly em-ploy whatsoever gifts God has given to us,then we shall be accepted according to whatwe have, and not according to that we havenot. ‘‘Much food is the tillage of the poor.’’Buddy Dano, PastorDivine Viewpointwww.divineviewpoint.comThe Tillage of the Poor:The Responsibility of Small Gifts4