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Topic: Don’t Hold Back The Wages
[DCLM Daily Manna 30 July 2020 Daily Devotional by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi]
Text: Leviticus 19:1-13 (KJV)
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.
3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.
5 And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will.
6 It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.
7 And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted.
8 Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
10 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.
11 Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.
12 And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
Key Verse: “Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning” (Leviticus 19:13).
MESSAGE:
The story is told of a notable business tycoon in the habit of hiring contractors to work for him. At the onset, he paid 80% of the contract sum, with a promise to pay up the balance on satisfactory completion. Since the profit margin was always less than 20%, the contractor usually would have to borrow additional funds to complete the work.
On satisfactory completion, paying that balance became a problem. To assuage the contractor, more and more jobs were given to him. So, the 20% kept accumulating into millions of unpaid debts.
Attempts to get the money were usually rebuffed with the threat that the contractor should go to court. And since the judicial process was usually slow in that country, and the “big man” was “well connected”, the helpless contractors would leave the money with huge debts hanging on their necks.
The Lord commanded Israel to be holy because He is holy. And how should that holiness be seen? By honouring one’s parents who are God’s representatives on earth; by faithful observance of the Sabbath; by not worshipping idols; by bringing peace and fellowship offerings to God, by providing for the poor and having regard for the truth, and by prompt payment of wages of hired workers.
In a world where “might is right”, the rights of the less privileged are often trampled upon by the rich who are getting richer and richer at the expense of the poor. For this, Apostle James, inspired by the Spirit of God, warned the greedy rich men, “Your riches are corrupted… Your gold and silver is cankered… Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries… are entered into the ears of the Lord…” (James 5:2-4). God hates when the poor is maltreated. He abhors injustice. Let everyone whom God has blessed use their wealth wisely.
Thought For The Day: Don’t punish the poor. Pay him his dues.
The Bible In One Year: 1 Timothy 1-6
