If you browse through any newsstand, you will see stories of financial and unemployment gloom written across the cover pages of most business magazines and newspapers. Housing market is down and house prices are down 18%. Companies are laying off staff in hundreds and thousands. People are conserving the income and savings they have so that they can tide over the next 6-8 months.

 

Everyone is asking how long will it last and how low will it go? A lot of people are speculating, but no one knows the answer. One thing is for sure; everyone wants economy to get back on tracks again.

 

A lot of people do not believe in God because they do not have a need to believe. Look at it this way, they have great jobs, they have amassed enough wealth/savings/investments and gathered for themselves plentiful possessions (houses, cars) to give them a sense of security that life’s necessities have all been taken care of. Then who needs God, and for what?

 

But then, something happens, credit market crashes, financial institutions go down-under, stock market crashes and investments are lost, companies start laying off employees, and worst of all, the end does not seem to be in sight. How does it feel when the very ground you are standing on gives way? What people thought was solid ground turned out to be quicksand. We are left without the bird and the bush.

 

So what is my point? What can you hope in? Is there any other assurance of permanent security and safety?

 

Yes there is, and we need to rejoice in this good news! Bible tells us that we can find hope in God’s word. Romans 15:4 tell us “by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope”. Scriptures tell us that all those who trust in the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:30, 31).

 

When we read the Bible, we can see what God has done for His people throughout the ages, and how He operates, and what He can do for us if we place our trust on Him and not on our abilities, our jobs, investments, and possessions. Look at birds, animals and fishes. Except for few who store food to tide over wintertime, all others receive their daily needs every day. God provides for them, and He has promised for us as well, if only we place our faith upon His son, our Lord Jesus Christ. David says in Psalms 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” We must not be anxious, but bring our prayers to Him in faith, and He will “lead us to green pastures”.

 

The promises of God are recession-proof too! So why be anxious. When we delight in His word, we are like the “tree that is planted by the water side”, (Psalms 1:2, 3)

 

LateBro. Sarvanand Lall once shared about his flying experience. He told how when the airplane was on the ground all things around were visible and were of their actual size, but when the airplane took off and soared high, the same things kept getting smaller and smaller, and sometimes not even visible. He equated this experience with what happens when we grow in our spiritual relationship with Lord Jesus. The closer we draw to Him, the smaller and insignificant the things of this world become.

 

In this time of economic uncertainty, what are you hoping in? You may be the head of your home and the primary bread earner. So when all depends on you, who do you depend on? I invite you to place your trust in Lord Jesus to be the Lord and master of your existence. Make Him your shepherd, and follow Him to give you hope and eternal life, which far surpasses the worth of possessing anything else in this uncertain world.