Proverbs 11:15 Safety with strangers_
Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but whoever refuses to shake hands in pledge is safe. Proverbs 11:15 NIV
Solomon’s advice makes sense, and upon reading it, it seems like there should be nothing to add. Making a financial commitment for someone you do not know seems not only risky but has a potential to put your own well-being at risk, or even make you a victim of some elaborate scam. Time is an important component in this proverb. Relationships take time, and someone who is a stranger simply has not had the mileage to be known and build trust. On the other hand, a financial pledge is an obligation that is managed over time. The two positioned next to each other create quite a contrast — and time is something over which no man has any guarantee.
Digging a little deeper it’s easy to see that at some point everyone is a stranger until we know them. Being a stranger makes you neither good or bad… only a risk if you are asking for credit. But should that limit my kindness or giving? Of course not! I was a stranger to the sons of God, until I was invited into the kingdom. Paul encourages us to show hospitality to strangers — and in doing so we may entertain angels, unaware that we are doing so. Men are made in the image of God. Jesus encourages us to love our neighbor, second to loving God. But who is our neighbor? In a parable illustrating his point, it was a Samaritan stranger who was beaten and robbed. A stranger! And what happens when the very sons of the kingdom have become strangers, like Israel who was a stranger in Egypt for 400 years?
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in… truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Matthew 25:40 NIV
And what about the pursuit of safety? For the natural man, Solomon’s words resonate. Safety is much better than precariousness, risk, worry and fear. Yet, the gospel is not about preserving our natural man. In fact, Jesus describes the terms of discipleship that would make the natural man head for the border: Pick up your cross and follow him, leave father and mother, hate those closest to you including yourself, die daily, tribulation and sufferings should be expected. How often do sons of God stay locked in a little box because of the desire for security rather than the desire to follow him diligently?
Then there is my debt. God took it on as his own when I was a stranger, pledging his Son. And yes, just like Solomon predicted, he suffered. During his life Jesus was not safe, nor did he seek safety — he was nearly tossed off a bluff by those who were antagonistic to him! But his payment for the good of many—those that he did not even know, has brought many sons to glory.
“Whoever refuses to shake hands in pledge is safe.” The contrast Solomon draws is from legal indebtedness. It is natural to want to love and help another and doing so is often within our power. But kindness in the form of a legal agreement puts me, and my family at the mercy of a future no one can know. There are much better ways to offer a blessing to another.
There’s no disputing the financial wisdom of this proverb, but there are times when the Holy Spirit would lead us to love a stranger and away from what appears safe. To God, He knows all hearts, there are no strangers. My safety is found in his bosom, listening and following him where he leads.