Our Best Security in the Present - and Future - Economic Difficulties
By F Santos • May 18th, 2008 • Category: faith
Recession?
With the prices of oil and of basic commodities presently skyrocketing like mad, with no end in sight and with the growing threat of recession, things could only get worse. Considering that America is the wealthiest nation on earth, you can just imagine how much worse life is in most poor, developing, nations where population density are so much higher and food and goods so scarce.
This is an inevitable reality that had long been predicted in the Bible. Time will come when a day’s wage would only be able to buy a quart of wheat! [Rev.6:6]. World events are relentlessly converging toward such eventuality. Meanwhile, we presently are, at best, in a time of uncertainty.
There are things we can and must do to prepare for - and to be able to cope with - economic hardship. The following are just a few suggestions:
- live within your income
- place your needs above your wants
- plan your trip to minimize on gas expenses
- set aside money for large planned expenses or emergencies
- don’t go shopping when you are hungry
- get rid of your debt as best and as fast as you can
- discard all your credit cards, save for one which must only be used for extreme emergencies
As you can see, the least you can do is to maximize whatever cash is available to you. It would be better if you could augment your present income with additional income from, say extra job or sideline. It is important during an economic downturn that you have ready cash, so saving as much money as you can is an important preparation. Perhaps the worst that can happen is for you to lose your job.
But no matter what happens there is an important source of security we cannot afford to be without – that is, an active relationship with God.
Jesus said:
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
That is a promise that, from my own personal experience I can say, you can count on. But you must trust and have faith in God - which, sadly had become quite uncommon in today’s materially-oriented world.
God owns the world, He can easily provide our needs no matter what the economic condition is. That is if we seek and pursue, first and foremost, His kingdom and His righteousness - and believe Him.
Psa 24:2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
Psa 24:3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
Psa 24:4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
Psa 24:5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is not some worn-out, pseudo-sanctimonious platitude about “the kingdom of God in your heart”. This is about pursuing things that truly matters to God – His soon-coming kingdom that will usher this world in real peace and prosperity - and God’s righteousness, as spelled out in the Ten Commandments, which we must live in our day to day life!
Some – especially the self-sufficient ones - have trivialized the importance of God and His ways in their life. Make no mistake, while you’d need money and the things that it can buy, it is not the real source of security. The prophet Ezekiel prophesied:
This world will experience such upheaval that material wealth will be of no help. People will throw away gold and silver that would have become worthless by then.
Our only lasting security therefore is God – whose kingdom and righteousness must be the object of our undistracted focus and pursuit.
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1 These data are based on the Census Bureau’s definition of poverty, which compares family’s pre-tax cash income to the poverty line. In 2006, the poverty line stood at $20,614 for a family of four. Visit http://www.cbpp.org/ for more information.
F Santos is a Bible researcher and freelance web designer/developer currently living in Memphis, TN
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