Proverbs 17:5

Proverbs is a collection of wisdom sayings from ancient Israel, many attributed to King Solomon. This verse draws a direct line between how we treat the poor and how we regard God himself — because every person, no matter their circumstances, was made by the same Creator. To mock someone in poverty is not just bad manners; the verse treats it as an insult aimed at the one who made them. The second half broadens the warning: taking pleasure in someone else's disaster — feeling satisfied when things fall apart for them — carries its own consequences. The underlying assumption is that human dignity is not earned by wealth or status; it is given by God.

God, forgive me for the moments I have laughed at someone else's struggle or felt quietly glad at their failure. Remind me that every person I am tempted to dismiss was made by you, with the same care you put into making me. Shape my gut reactions, not just my public behavior. Amen.

Scroll through any comment section when a story breaks about someone who lost everything, or notice how people talk about a public figure's very public collapse, and you will find it fast — the contempt, the jokes, the quiet satisfaction dressed up as justice. We tell ourselves it is just honesty, or that they had it coming, or that we are only saying what everyone else is thinking. But this verse refuses to let us off that easily. When you mock the person on the corner, or feel that small flicker of gladness when someone you resent finally gets what you think they deserve, you are not just revealing something about how you see them. You are revealing something about how you see God. The struggling person isn't just a human being deserving of basic decency — they are a work of God's hands. The same intention and care that went into making you went into making them. So the question this verse quietly presses on is not simply "Do you look down on people who are struggling?" but "What do you actually believe about the worth of what God makes?" Treating every person — the embarrassing, the broken, the ones who make us uncomfortable — with genuine dignity isn't just an ethical rule. It is a confession of faith. What does your gut reaction to someone else's disaster say about what you actually believe?