Proverbs 11:26 - Meaning and Application

See here, first, how we should use the gifts God gives us. We must not hoard them just for our own gain, as if the only purpose were to make ourselves richer. We should use them for the good of others, to support and help them. It is sinful, when grain is scarce and expensive, to hold it back in hopes that the price will rise even more, so that the market stays high while poor people suffer. At such a time, those who have grain should care about the poor, be willing to sell at the going price, be content with a fair profit, and not try to profit from God’s judgments. It is a generous and wide-reaching act of charity for those who have enough to help keep prices reasonable when the cost of basic goods becomes too high.

Second, we should pay attention to what people think and say about us. We should not treat it as a small matter whether our neighbors have goodwill toward us or speak against us, whether they pray for us or curse us. This verse teaches us to fear their curses enough to give up our own profit rather than bring them on ourselves, and to seek their blessings even if it costs us something to win them. At times, the voice of the people is the voice of God.