"You stick with me, kid. I'll show you what to do. I'll take care of you. It'll be great!"
For a while the kid stays close to Experienced guy and stuff works out well. But that great arrangement doesn't last long. Success leads Young guy to become full of himself and he decides he knows an even better way to do things. Before you know it. Boom! He's in one more pickle.
Experienced guy steps back and never crowds Young guy. Young guy flounders around for a while getting into trouble after trouble, too proud to come back to the one person that's ever helped him. The situation becomes a humongous mess.
There's only one way to end the nightmare of Young guy's own wayward decisions. He turns to his mentor, Experienced guy, who rescues his penitent friend and puts him back on the right road to happiness and success.
Yeah, I saw that one.
I've also seen it played out in real life with friends and acquaintances and it's not a pretty picture when financial situations become messes. We say we depend on the Lord and follow His leading during the good times because it takes small faith to trust the Lord when work is plentiful, our savings account is growing and we're feeling smart and secure in our future. The Lord reigns in boom time. We're really trusting God now!
That's when arrogance can infiltrate our thinking and we are riding on our high horses.
"I'm doing well. Things are really going great guns for us. I think I can handle this stuff."
And, while we may not say it out loud, an attitude of, "Thanks, Lord, but I'll be moving on without you now," pervades our thinking and our actions.
When the down turn comes (and it will come), when work slows down to nearly nothing, when money saved dwindles because there's little coming in and there are bills to pay, when retirement funds lose profits and shrink, we get nervous and scared about what's going to happen to us.
Many of us do that. We put our trust into job security, savings accounts, investments, friends, insurance, or our healthy bodies and physical strength and determine that we will take care of ourselves. We will pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We will maneuver that deal. We will make that contact. We will be shrewd investors. We will wheel and deal 'til the cows come home and in the end we will come out on top. Economy or no economy. We will work hard enough and we will do what it takes to succeed. Yep. That's what we're gonna do alright.
In and of itself, working hard is good. Healthy bodies are good. Wisdom in financial and business matters is good. The glitch is when our entire faith lies in ourselves and what we can accomplish. Try as we might, there are many issues that only the Lord himself can fix. There are times when we aren't smart enough, business savvy enough, or ambitious enough to change it. That's when we discover that the only one who can change it is the Lord.
Just as the younger man in our movie scene returned to his mentor, we must return to the Lord. But how? How do we return to the Lord? He tells us that we return to him by being honest, by doing things His way. He tells us to stop robbing him of tithes and offerings and then makes us promises when we do as He instructs:
Malachi 3 :7-12 ...Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty.
"But you ask, 'How are we to return?' 8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
"But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the Lord Almighty.12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty.
It's not about pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps or being brave or being strong. It's about becoming dependent on the Lord. It's about trusting and serving the one who cares and is truly able to do something about our situation. It's about well-placed faith in the Lord. It's about being strong in the Lord--not in ourselves, our bank account, our jobs or in the next get rich quick investment idea floating around.
It's about utter and total dependence on God. It's about honoring him in the way HE wants us to honor Him. The Lord says that obedience is better than sacrifice. It's simple, really. He makes it simple for us because He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows us and wants to hold us close to himself. He says to us,
"Stay with me, child and I'll bring you through this. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will be your strength. I will carry you. Rest in me. Trust in me."
Father, Thank you for certainty in an uncertain time. Sometimes this economic stuff scares me--but I know who you are. Help me to never ride on my high horse in arrogance, Lord. You are attentive to your children. You have taken good care of my family and me in all times, both easy and hard and I appreciate it so much. I love you, Lord and I trust you.
Suz
2 comments:
Suz, thanks so much for reminding me to just stop and realize that My GOD has everything under control. It seems I do get so involved in finding the answer myself that I don't ever realize the answer is already their. God knew just where I would be this day and time. Thank you God for those who follow your leading, and thank you and praise you for always being there for me and my family.
Powerful post. You summed it up so beautifully and the bottom line is we must never become so self-sufficient that we fail to remember "we are the pipe. He (God) is our source." The well-placed faith you spoke of is absolutely imperative in this 21st century culture that is so rapidly changing. Thank God, He is changeless and is such a wonderful heavenly Father. Thanks again,Suz, for the potent reminder to always honor Him.
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