Economic Uncertainty

We live in interesting economic times. How often have you heard those words? Companies are laying off workers. Other businesses have declared bankruptcy. Retirees do not have as much disposable income, especially if they depend on dividends from their stock portfolio. Baby boomers wonder whether they will have to work longer than they intended.

Lately the news consists of a constant diet of doom and gloom. Therefore many people are afraid to spend although they can afford it. Banks are refusing to lend even when they are able.

How should believers, who trust in the goodness and providence of God, react to this economic uncertainty? God reminded me of the answer when I looked outside my window the other day. A brightly coloured blue jay landed on a snow-laden evergreen tree. Tiny chickadees, almost hidden from view, hopped from one pine branch to another. They were not worried about what they would eat or wear.

Jesus instructed his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear…Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:25, 26 NIV).

I know a chorus, “Why Worry When You Can Pray?”. Let us learn from the birds. Do not worry about the falling stock market or the subprime mortgage fiasco. Instead ask your Heavenly Father to supply your needs, not your wants. Then trust him to do it.

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