“For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith.” Rom 1:17 (Amplified)
You would have had to have been living on another planet to be unaware of the economic chaos and the resultant credit crunch it has unleashed on every part of the world. As Christians, we are not immune to paying more for our petrol and shopping simply because we are part of the world we live in. Nevertheless, many of us seems to have forgotten the fact that we are not of the world and are consequently doing the very things the people of the world are doing – complaining. While we might not yet be carrying protest placards, the stress and resultant anger boiling in our hearts is enough to make Mount Vesuvius blow its top in cataclysmic eruption.
A fact that is implicit in our understanding of what it is to walk by faith is the truth that God will take care of our every need. This means that our confidence in God’s caring ability supersedes any economic downturn or prevailing political chaos. After all, His word assures us in Isa 58:11 that “The Lord shall guide us continually and satisfy us in drought and in dry places and make strong our bones and that we shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not”. Therefore, our grumbling and complaining is a sure sign that we do not subscribe to God’s claim or believe His promise to take care of us irrespective of the circumstances.
I personally believe that casting our minds back and recounting God’s faithfulness in His past dealings with us helps to strengthen our faith in the present and also enable us to anticipate His future provision. It will also help us to keep the present difficulties in the right perspective and give rise to the confidence that God will certainly handle our future and cause us to prosper.
However, there is another sense in which we ought to count our blessings. God has blessed us with so much that we in the Western world actually constitute the top twenty percent of the world’s richest. This means that while the economic downturn has no doubt impacted our lives to varying degrees, its effect is minimal compared to other people who may have to forgo basic requirements like meals or medicine. So, irrespective of your economic situation you are still blessed and highly favoured by God. Don’t throw His goodness back in His face by complaining when you should be showing gratitude for past and present provision even as you expect His continued faithfulness to you. In the light of this fact why not take a moment to count your blessings and name them one by one and it just might surprise you to realise just how blessed you really are. Your appreciation of past and present blessings will open doors to greater future blessings.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the seemingly insignificant as well as the wonderful things you have done for me. I acknowledge the fact that your greatness is never diminished by dire circumstances; they only magnify your goodness. Therefore I praise you in the full confidence that you shall always supply my needs according to your glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Amen.