Proverbs 11:17-31: a reflection

17The merciful man does good to his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh. 18Wicked people earn deceitful wages, but one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward. 19He who is truly righteous gets life. He who pursues evil gets death. 20Those who are perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, but those whose ways are blameless are his delight. 21Most certainly, the evil man will not be unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered. 22Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout, is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion. 23The desire of the righteous is only good. The expectation of the wicked is wrath. 24There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty. 25The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. 26People curse someone who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it. 27He who diligently seeks good seeks favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come to him. 28He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf. 29He who troubles his own house shall inherit the wind. The foolish shall be servant to the wise of heart. 30The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls. 31Behold, the righteous shall be repaid on the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

This cluster of proverbs keeps circling a paradox that runs against our instincts about money and self-protection. One gives freely, it says, and yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only comes to want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters others will himself be watered. The open, scattering hand ends up fuller; the clenched, withholding one ends up poorer.

That is backward to how we usually think. Our instinct is that holding tight, keeping what we have, protects and increases us, and that giving away depletes us. The proverbs insist on the opposite. There is a kind of increase that comes precisely through generosity, and a kind of poverty, not only material, but of soul, that comes from clutching and withholding. The one who waters others is watered; the one who hoards dries up.

This is not a promise that generosity always makes you materially rich; it is a deeper truth about how life actually works. A generous, open-handed life is enriched, in relationships, in joy, in the very texture of the soul, while a grasping, withholding life impoverishes itself even when its accounts are full. Which hand are you living with, the open one that scatters and is watered, or the clenched one that withholds and dries up? Loosen your grip, water others, and discover the strange economy in which giving enriches you.

Lord, your economy is backward to my instincts: the open hand that scatters is enriched, and the clenched hand that withholds dries up. Loosen my grip. Make me a generous, open-handed person who waters others, and let me discover the fuller life that giving brings, in joy and in soul, not the poverty of hoarding.