“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate.”
—Proverbs 31:8

God anointed Solomon, who wrote the Book of Proverbs, with eternal wisdom that surpassed all the rest of humanity. One of the things Solomon advised God’s people to do is to open our mouths for the mute and the less fortunate. To put it simply, we are to stick up for the underdog.

Our God is a father of the underdogs. He cares about the oppressed, the weak, the widows, and the orphans. Consider what He did for ancient Israel. They were the fewest people in all the earth. God saw them being persecuted and mistreated by the Egyptians, and He heard their cry and rescued them. After God rescued them, He said to Israel, “You know what it’s like to be mistreated, and I don’t want you ever to forget it. I want you to stick up for the rights of the poor and the unfortunate.”

We lead such busy lives, and often we’re so stressed with taking care of the details of our own lives that we don’t think about how to help others. We can be so self-absorbed. Compounding this, the culture we live in is putting many of us under such extreme pressure that we are becoming even more hard-hearted. But we need to overcome the stress of the culture and be sensitive to others.

I want to encourage you to consider someone who is struggling or hurting and help them. Look for someone you can speak up for, someone you can defend. That may mean financially supporting a humanitarian ministry or befriending someone at work, at your church, or in your neighborhood who you know is struggling. Jesus came as a servant of all, and as children of God, we must do the same. Beloved, become a servant. Look for people you can help, especially those who are struggling with physical, emotional, or financial hardships. This is what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Father God, You care for the oppressed, disadvantaged, struggling, poor, and weak, and You want me to be mindful of the least of these too. Lord, Your Word says that You reward those who give even a cup of cold water to someone in need (Matt. 10:42). Father, help me to look beyond myself to see the needs of others. Let me not be so busy today that I overlook an opportunity to share Your love with someone in need. Father, make me a servant, in Yeshua’s name.

Rabbi Kirt A. Schneider, Rivers of Divine Truth (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2021), Used by permission.