The Blessing Soul

“The soul who gives freely shall be made fat; and he who waters shall also be watered himself.” (Proverbs 11:25)

Traditionally, it’s believed that David wrote this psalm. In the King James translation, the word used is liberal which means blessing. What is being said is the liberal soul, the blessing soul or soul of blessing. Remembering that the soul is the mind, will and emotions, we get the picture of a person who is emotionally driven to be a blessing and to give. He wills to give and mentally has decided to give and to be a blessing. It comes from a liberal heart which gives expecting nothing in return.

For us who know Jesus, it should be part of our new born again nature, the nature of God Who gave so generously and liberally His gift of grace in Jesus. If you have a tendency to be stingy, close fisted or not too generous, this is a red flag. The Lord wants us to be generous. Nowhere in the Bible does God command us to be generous, but there are plenty of Scripture to support the fact that He wants us to be generous. In this Scripture, the generous person will be made fat and those who water will be watered.

To be fat doesn’t mean what we think of today to be fat. The Hebrew word that was used means specifically to anoint. The Hebrews of the Old Testament knew exactly what this meant. Anointing was usually done with the smearing of oil and for the purpose of consecration and sanctification. Consecration is the act of personally setting oneself apart from every contamination in body, soul and spirit for a relationship with God. On the other hand, sanctification if the divine act of God setting a person or thing for His purpose. This was done primarily for kings, prophets, priests and for the purpose of healing. So, in being generous, a person is anointed, consecrating himself to God and sanctified, God using that person for His purposes.

The second part of that verse speaks about watering. If we water, we will be watered. The Hebrew word that was translated water means to quench the thirst. Those who are in need are thirsty, in spirit, in soul, in body or other means. When we quench that thirst, that need, we are also quenched and satisfied. This agrees with Jesus’ command to give. “Give, and it shall be given to you, good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over, they shall give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you measure, it shall be measured to you again.” (Luke 6:38) Whatever measuring stick we use to give, will be used to measure what we get.

Giving is righteous. And the righteous give and give liberally. Why? Because we have the nature of God Who is liberal and generous. How can we withhold from someone in need when in the time of our need, the Lord was generous to us? Yes, some who receive don’t see the spiritual benefit they’re getting. They may not even care. One beggar I was moved to give to, simply said, “Yeah.” He wasn’t interested in the One Who was giving, and I don’t mean myself. It was the Lord Who moved me to give. It was the Lord Who saw his need and wanted to meet his need. His need was more than physical. His thirst was for God, and he didn’t recognize it. He just wanted what immediately would satisfy him. But that’s okay. I don’t know that God didn’t deal with him later, in the quiet of night before he fell asleep. We don’t know how the Lord is working. Our responsibility is to give, to be generous and liberal like our God. Solomon wrote about the lazy man and the righteous one. “He covets greedily all the day long; but the righteous gives and spares not.” (Proverbs 21:26)

Briefly, if we’ve been born again of the Spirit of God through Jesus and our sins have been forgiven, the debt paid by our Savior, we have the nature of God. And God’s nature is generous and liberal. Stinginess is sin. It’s not of God. It’s not of God’s nature. The Lord recompenses us with anointing when we give using the same measure we use, satisfying our thirst in body, soul and spirit.