Do not withhold good

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due [its rightful owners] when it is in the power of your hand to do it.“ Proverbs 3:27


Just do it. Do good. Yes, especially those who deserve it, but what about the people you don’t know? You don’t know if they deserve it. You don’t know if they are even a Christian. But still, don’t withhold good.


Wednesday I was on a schedule, not running behind, but had things to do, places to go, people to see. I had Jarrod, his buddy Bert, and Ethan in the car. We came up behind a stranded car. As I went around the car, inside I saw a young girl, maybe 18, on the phone. She was stuck. Her car was in the lane on the street. My brain knew immediately that she had to be pushed out of the way. I was going to have the boys jump out in the middle of the street to push her, but I realized that they did not know how to push a car (not that it takes a genius). So I pulled over in a parking lot, left the car running and said, “c’mon guys, lets get her out of the street!” The boys were surprised, but instantaneously jumped out of the car, and followed me running over to her.


The girl's window was part way down and I said, “Let’s get you out of the street.” She said, “How? Do I put it in neutral?” It was an automatic, I assumed so, what did I know? This is me we’re talking about. I reassuringly said, “yes, neutral or drive, it doesn’t matter.” And we began to push. (no comments, I already said I didn't know what I was doing.)

While this was going on, just as I was getting to her car, another “mom car” pulled into the parking lot, and two boys about Jarrod’s age jumped from that SUV. By the time the new boys could get to us, we had the car out of the street. I had already stopped pushing since Jarrod and Bert had it. My boys stopped pushing and let the new boys push her into a shadded parking stall we were aiming for.

My boys jumped back into the car, and we took off and we got going since now my car was in the way. I knew the girl had a phone, she was in no danger, so I felt confident leaving. The Mom in the other SUV smiled and waved at me. We went our separate ways.


About 30 minutes later, while I was pumping gas, sipping my diet coke, in the 103 degree heat, I thought, “I bet that girl needs something to drink.” I told the boys my thought and sent Jarrod into the minimart to get a bottle of water. We were going to drive right past where she was on our way to our next stop. They were excited to see if the girl was still parked there. She was. I hopped out of my running car and gave her the water. Her brother or boyfriend had arrived and was looking under the hood of her car. I knew she was taken care of so I just went on.


As I drove away it occurred to me that I didn’t say, “Jesus loves you!” Or, "no thanks for me, just thank God." I'm not that clever. The girl was grateful, she said “thank you” and I said “sure” or something like that. Shoot! I blew it! I missed the opportunity. I felt guilty. Learning to let myself off the hook, I decided not to look at is as a missed opportunity, I have to think of it like “The Good Samaritan.”


“The Good Samaritan” didn’t help the man in the road so that he could witness to him, he helped him because it is our job as humans to do good to one another.



Maybe she did see the Jesus in me. Maybe she had just prayed, and we were her answer. The fact that TWO mom cars pulled up and helped her...maybe she needed to know that Moms care. Maybe she needed a lesson in common courtesy. Maybe she just needed a little unsolicited help. Maybe I needed to teach my kids a lesson.


As I drove away I prayed for her. I said, “Lord, I should have told her how much You love her….” I asked Him to send people her way to tell her about His love if she didn’t already know it. I can’t imagine that after all of the kindness she was shown that God didn’t shine through. Somehow, somewhere she knows God loves her extra special.


I was encouraged. Not only had I done a good deed, I was able to teach my boys good deeds. To top it off, the other mom got to teach her boys good deeds. Then I thought even more about it.


How much love does God have for her that He would send two Mom cars to help this girl? If God loves her that much, He must love me that much too.

Doing good for others doesn't just benefit them, it benefits the doer as well. When it says, "don't withhold good...." It doesn't mean to necessarily go out of your way for others; It means when the opportunity arises, just do good.

KM (9-24-09) 9-27-09