A sense of compassion compels me to add some further thoughts to what I posted yesterday, on the wisdom of conducting our lives economically: someone I was talking to said, that's cold comfort for me! I've already been unwise, lived beyond my means. It's too late now.
But it's never too late--provided one turns to God to show him the way out of troubling circumstances. Along this line, two things have come to mind today.
First, the Old Testament (Jeremiah 32:17) which states: "Ah Lord, God! Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee."
And interestingly enough, an experience a friend of mine had who served in WWII in the Solomon Islands. This was published some years ago in the Christian Science periodicals, and it bears on the subject of feeling up against great odds, and can be transposed to a financial situation, I think.
This soldier was waiting to be evacuated when a round of mortar fire whistled past. He jumped into a foxhole. Because he knew the target-ranging system being used, he expected the next bomb to land very near. He heard it coming. Then, he said, time seemed to stop and he thought of his loved ones at home and of himself, feeling this could be the end. Then, came a divine message of assurance: "What are you worrying about? You are God's child, and God's child cannot be destroyed." That bomb landed on the edge of the foxhole, but didn't go off.
I've always found this example of just what turning to God in a desperate circumstance can do most inspiring, and applicable to anything we might face in our daily lives. As bad as things may look today in the stock market, the economy will turn around. Has anything happened to God's all-power and love for His children? Of course not!
And in conclusion, the Bible has this eternal assurance: "With us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles" (II Chronicles 32:8). What a comfort to you and me to know that we always have instant recourse to the Father's ever-present love, that whatever our particular battle may be -- even a scary financial picture -- we can ask God for help, confident that He will adjust circumstances, open up new opportunities, and show us the right and wise and economical steps to take. By taking refuge in almighty God, one can end up better than he was before.
