Financial Strains and Faith

Today's quiet time for me was on financial struggle... I happen to open my daily readings and there it was - financial struggles... Good topic for the current downturn in the economy too, and am sure we are all struggling one way or another. And maybe we just need that little bit of faith back in our lives... Gonna share what I got out of Selwyn Hughes' 'Every Day with Jesus' book. He spoke about how money plays an enormous part in our lives - so true... He goes on to say that many Christians think that the purpose of money is to provide security, establish independence, or create power and influence, but this is a very worldly view of the topic, but says the Bible shows us otherwise - that God has purposes which He wants to achieve through money - and understanding these purposes is crucial if we are to be fruitful and productive Christians.

Hughes says the main purpose of money is to provide basic needs. It's surprising how little money we need in order to sustain the basic needs of life. These needs can be summed up in the words food, clothing and shelter. And God demonstrates He loving care by assuring us of His help in obtaining these basic needs: "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin... willl he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matt 6:28-30)

Second, God longs for us to be dependent on Him. He knows that we experience our greatest happiness and freedom when we rely on Him alone. When we fail to recognise our need for God, we tend to lose our love for God. And the more we love our love for God, the more we come to depend upon ourselves.
1 Tim 6:8 says "But godliness with contentment is great gain." Contentment is the satisfaction we get from knowing there will be provision for our basic needs. We begin to lose our contentment when we compare with what others have - and then before long, expectations dominate our focus to the degree that our expectations increase and our contentment diminishes. Being content with the basics equips us to resist the alluring advertising which seeks to convince us that we are not able really to enjoy life unless we buy some new commodity. A contented person feels wealthy because he knows that what he already possesses is all he needs for daily living.

Third, God confirms His loving direction in our lives. He will use the supply of money or the lack of it to confirm His direction and guidance for many of the decisions we make in our lives. One minister shared how he had asked God to guide him over a certain project and part of his prayer was this: "Lord, give me the money to do this, or else it just cannot be done." The money didn't come, so the minister went ahead and borrowed money for the project. A few weeks later, the project got into difficulties and he was declared bankrupt. He was asked, "Do you know what made you go ahead even though God did not provide the money?" And he replied, saying he had not learned the difference between presumption and faith. Faith is trusting God to achieve His purposes through us, presumption is deciding what we want to accomplish and trying to get God to do it for us. It is so easy to have this proneness to nudge God when things are not working out.

Fourth, God has asked us to bless and enrich other Christians. The greatest benefit of generous giving to other Christians results in an overflowing tide of thanksgiving to God. God will give you much so that you can give away much, and when you take your gifts to those who need them they will break out in thanksgiving and praise of God for your help.

Fifth, God shows His divine power through His miraculous provision of money. A financial miracle happens when God provides one of His children with the money required to meet a financial need - and usually it involves such precise timing that it cannot fail to point to the Lord's direct intervention. God wants to prove to those who seek Him that they will not lack any good thing. When a Christian prays about a financial need, for example, and an unexpected gift is given to him by someone who knows nothing about the need, the supernatural power of God is demonstrated.

Are we ready to ask, What part does money play in our lives? Does it draw us closer to God, or drive us further away from Him? Is our security in silver - or in the Saviour? Most of us would claim that we are serving God. We would strenously deny that we have a greater love for money than we do for the Master. God, however, is aware that what we believe to be the situation is not always so. Sometimes He has to bring us into cramped financial circumstances so that we realise where our true security lies.