Just as the rich rule the poor,
so the borrower is servant to the lender.
(Proverbs 22:7 NLT)
Faith is the most important reason we believe the scriptures are true. At times, it is also because God’s Word is proved by our experience of life. How many of us become “wage slaves” to be able to pay the bills? Do we stay with a difficult job or a toxic work environment because we fear we might lose our income and go bankrupt if our new job or business opportunity does not work out?
The 1937 Disney movie, Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs, featured the dwarfs marching off to work
singing, “Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho! It’s off to work we go!” I once noticed a bumper sticker that read, “I
owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go.” I
know from personal experience how difficult it is to pay off consumer debt to
multiple creditors by making monthly payments.
To be up front about it,
I have carried consumer debt most of my life.
I used to say that being of sound mind, I spent every cent I made – two
years before I made it. I was only half
joking. Were it not for God’s provision,
I would still be up to my ears in debt.
The ability to buy on
credit lets us have what we want now, rather than to wait until we have saved
the money to buy it, but look out - it’s a trap! Henry David Thoreau is
reported to have said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” My
contention is that this is probably due to debt.
One source reports that, “Americans added $660
billion in debt while paying down credit card balances and buying homes
during the pandemic. The average person now has nearly $54,000 of debt, or more
than $155,000 per household.”
A consumer debt study by Experian for 2020
said, “Overall, total outstanding consumer debt grew to just under $14.9 trillion.
Several types of debt contributed to this growth, though it was notably
counteracted by a decrease in credit card balances.”
In today’s economy, only
a small proportion of the money in circulation is hard cash. Most transactions are being conducted in
“numbers money.”
When a consumer goes to
a car dealer to buy a car, the dealer’s financial officer arranges for a loan.
The lender sends an electronic payment for the car to the dealer’s bank
account. If the buyer makes a down payment, it is usually by check or debit
card. No exchange of cash takes
place. That’s numbers money. Without creating debt, most of us could not
afford to buy a car.
When we use a debit card
to buy our groceries, or a credit card to buy gas, no exchange of cash takes place. Account transfers take place electronically. When
our life insurance company “automatically” dips into our checking account for
their monthly premium, that is numbers money.
No cash.
Were it not for credit
cards, how much online shopping would there be?
How many small businesses would fold if Christmas buying had to be in
cash? It is a lot easier to whip out
your credit or debit card to buy the things you want, isn’t it? It’s more difficult to come up with the cash.
In short, our economy
has become dependent on numbers money, and especially on credit buying. Without it, our economy would collapse.
You see – it’s built in
for people to go into debt and stay there.
It adds money to the economy and lends stability to the work force.
There is a fly in the
ointment. Interest rates on homes and
cars are low right now, but the interest we pay on credit card debt, personal
loans, and the like amounts to usury (in the moral if not legal sense). Somebody is lending in ways that take unfair
advantage of the ordinary Joe. Further,
there is no guarantee that home and auto loan interest will not go up. I’m old enough to remember 10% interest on
home loans and 16% interest on used car loans.
Stay with me while I
quote a number of verses from the Holy Bible, so that we may get a feel for the
whole wisdom of God about debt. (Hint: He doesn’t want us to go into debt.) Please remember that God gives us His
commands so that we may have happy lives.
Hopefully, these
verses will convict us about how far we have wandered away from God. Things that are wrong have become so
commonplace that they are taken for granted.
Nations
The LORD will
open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to
give rain to your land in its season and to
bless every work of your hand; and you will lend to
many nations, but you will not borrow. (Deuteronomy 28:12 NASB)
At the end of every seven years you
shall grant a release of debts. And this is the
regulation for the release of debts: every creditor is
to forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not
require it of his neighbor and his brother, because the
LORD’S release has been proclaimed. From a foreigner you
may require it, but your hand shall forgive whatever of
yours is with your brother. (Deuteronomy 15:1-3 NASB)
You are not to charge interest to
your countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that
may be loaned on interest. You may charge interest to
a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest,
so that the LORD your God may bless you in all that
you undertake in the land which you are about to
enter to possess. (Deuteronomy 23:19-20 NASB)
Society
So David departed from
there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his
brothers and all his father’s household heard about
it, they went down there to him. Then
everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and
everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them.
Now there were about four hundred men with him. (1Samuel 22:1-2
NASB)
Now in case a
countryman of yours becomes poor and his means among you
falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or
a resident, so that he may live with you. Do not take any
kind of interest from him, but fear your God, so that
your countryman may live with you. You shall not give him
your silver at interest, nor your food for profit. I am
the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be
your God. (Leviticus 25:37-37 NASB)
Individuals
Now a woman of the
wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha,
saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your
servant feared the LORD; and the creditor has come to take my
two children to be his slaves.” So Elisha said to
her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you
have in the house?” And she said, “Your
servant has nothing in the house except a jar of
oil.” Then he said, “Go, borrow containers elsewhere for
yourself, empty containers from all your neighbors—do not
get too few. Then you shall come in and
shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour into
all these containers; and you shall set aside what is
full.” So she left him and shut the door behind her
and her sons; they began bringing the containers to
her, and she poured the oil. When the containers were
full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” But he
said to her, “There are no more containers.” Then the
oil stopped. So she came and told the man of God. And
he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your
sons can live on the rest.” (2Kings 4:1-7 NASB)
When you
make your neighbor a loan of any kind, you shall not
enter his house to take his pledge. You shall
stand outside, and the person to whom you are making the
loan shall bring the pledge outside to you. And
if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. When
the sun goes down you shall certainly return the
pledge to him, so that he may sleep in his cloak and
bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before the
LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 24:10-13 NASB)
If you
lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not
to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him
interest. If you ever seize your
neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to
him before the sun sets, for that is his only covering; it
is his cloak for his body. What else is he to sleep in? And
it will come about that when he cries out to Me, I
will listen to him, for I am gracious. (Exodus 22:25-27 NASB)
Give to
him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who
wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:42 NASB)
Therefore,
the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his
servants. As he began the settlement, a man who
owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master
ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to
repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient
with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him,
canceled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one
of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed
him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His
fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I
will pay it back. “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown
into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were
outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the
master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all
that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your
fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be
tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father
will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your
heart.” (Matthew 18:23-35 NIV)
Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him
five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them
had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of
them will love him more?” (Luke 7-41-42 NIV)
“No one can
serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will
be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and
money.” Luke 16:13 NIV)
Admittedly, some of
these verses are about forgiveness and gratitude. Yet, they also speak to our attitudes about
money and debt. Please take a few moments to reflect on God's Word.
Whom are we to
serve? Will we serve God or our
creditors? How much interest is
fair? How does God want us to treat
those who owe us? How many of our
children or grandchildren could we have put through college with the money we
have paid in interest?
Should the good old
USA borrow money from China? Will a
people oppressed by poverty and debt become rebellious?
Does God still help
people the way He helped the widow through Elisha? She did what Elisha told her, and she
received a miracle. God will help us if
we obey Him. He helped me.
