As our world remains gripped in our most severe economic crisis since the 1930's more and more of our neighbors and family members struggle to hold on financially. Unemployment is passing 10% nationally and in many local communities nearly one in five adults is looking for work. How can God take our economic recession and spawn a spiritual renewal within our own life and within our communities?
As our economic security wanes and our material stockpiles of money ebb, our new vulnerability can actually give way to a new awareness of an Almighty Creator who longs for our attention, submission and love. By yielding to the God in the valley of our circumstances we become still and hear His voice. God's love and plan for our blessing outstrips our ability to comprehend. The simplicities of this life, that in our times of wealth and pleasure seemed trivial, can in these days become the rock upon which we stand. Our place of worship, extended family, old classmates and neighbors can shine and take on new dimension for us, even in the depths of our need.
The more we strive to praise God in our calamity, the more God can bless us. The more we shun the material security of this life and cling to the eternal promises of our Lord, the bolder and more unafraid we become to try new things. The loss of a job or a bank account, even the loss of our social standing, can, in fact, open new doors for us as God strips us of our pretention, consumption, envy and striving.
Let this recession become our time for personal and spiritual renewal. Learn a new skill. Make a new friend. Work with your hands again. Eat less, and walk more. Ask for forgiveness from broken relationships even as you forgive those who have hurt you. Embrace simplicity. Enroll in school, work for free in order to learn new job skills. Become an entrepreneur. Tithe more, even as your savings evaporate, and watch God bless all of your life events!
Throughout scripture the tough times were clarion calls of God to come home to Him. Let these days be our call to renew our spirits in these times of recession. We will emerge victorious and wealthier than before!