In God We Trust. Really?

"Two things I request of You
(Deprive me not before I die):
Remove falsehood and lies far from me;
Give me neither poverty nor riches—
Feed me with the food allotted to me;
Lest I be full and deny You,
And say, “Who is the LORD?”
Or lest I be poor and steal,
And profane the name of my God." Proverbs 30: 7-9

This scripture goes against EVERYTHING that our culture stands for...Many of us are living paycheck to paycheck and feel that we are not experiencing the favor of God. Could it be that we are EXACTLY where He wants us to be? In this place, we know that He is all we have, and we put our trust in Him to provide. As one friend stated, "It's easy to say I trust in God when I have a huge paycheck coming in every week." When that guaranteed income was taken, she quickly learned that such faith was shallow. Now she depends on Him for her daily bread and in the process, her faith has been made genuine. We have enough for today, we have food on our table, clothes on our bodies, shelter over our heads. We realize that He is our Provider and without His help, tomorrow we may not have our basic needs fulfilled. We have enough so that we are not tempted to steal, thus shaming His name. Let's be honest, most of us have WAY more than we need. We could do with a lot less. We could sell off half of what we have in our houses and still have plenty.

Today, I am challenged to turn my gaze from the world. I choose to look at circumstances with His eyes. I am aware of needs that are urgent, all around me. Rather than worry about our retirement fund or putting away piles of cash for tomorrow, I want to give to those who have need now. My favorite motto is "Live simply, that others may simply live." This is not an invitatation to live wrecklessly and blow our money on temporal, fleeting pleasures. I am not suggesting that we throw caution to the wind and start handing out wads of cash to every homeless person we meet. Rather, we should ask Him to reveal to us the ones He wants to provide for, through us. Pray through those opportunities and if there is unity with our spouses or others we are accountable to, then move forward in obedience.

This video of Francis Chan will inspire you to move into the deeper places of faith and obendience...