Do I Really “Need” This? (Part 2/3)

Starting where we left off in my last post, we often find ourselves in the midst of financial turmoil and grief when we lose focus of our primary purpose for being alive, which is to emulate Christ each day (for the full recap first read Part 1/3). So when we wake up and find ourselves in a financial mess, what is God’s response when we call on Him? Does he care at all? Is He complacent on matters such as these? Is there any Biblical basis for even expecting His guidance for situations like this when it was our own fault we are in the mess to begin with? Using scripture as our guide I’d say yes….with some expectations. Consider the story of Elisha and the widow found in 2 Kings 4:1-7:

“A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.” So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors – empty vessels; do not gather  just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

Wow, this story has so many messages packed into it that I could dedicate a weeks worth of posts to it, but let’s just look at a few of the basic principles found within the text. First off, this woman was recently widowed by a man who, though “fearing” God, had amassed a large amount of debt and the creditors were knocking at the door to get paid! Has anyone been there before? Have you found yourself in financial debt to the point you couldn’t keep up despite all your efforts? It was obviously a scary situation for this widow. She was crying out for help and the man God sent to answer her gave her specific instructions and a plan of escape from the mess she was in, but it did require her and her sons to follow a specific action plan. They were diligent and quick to do what the man of God told them to do and the result was a financial miracle. The underlying principle of the whole story is, “as a follower of Christ, when you call on God for help, He is faithful to answer.” Does His method of help look the same or come in the same manner every time? No, it changes from person to person as God looks at our situation, sees our hearts’ motivation behind the prayer, and He answers in the way that will bring about the most eternal good.

I find it interesting that the scriptures clearly defined that the first thing the widow was to do with the money earned from selling the oil was to repay the creditors. They were collecting on debt, a very plain and ordinary part of life for many people, but God was intentional on providing enough financial resources to cover the debt AND have enough left over to live on the rest. That is typically called a surplus, as it is more than is needed to meet the need. That shows me that God isn’t only concerned about the needs I have today, but that He is also aware of and will provide for the needs of my future.

In the final post on this topic we’ll take a look at the questions surrounding the “surplus” and “prospering” side of the discussion. What does the Bible say about living a financially prosperous life?

Do I Really “Need” This? (Part 1/3)

I believe “needs” can be divided into two simple categories; 1) Survival needs such as food, water, clothing, and shelter, and 2) everything else. Survival needs are required live regardless of your social status, geography, political party preference, or nationality. These needs are no respecters of persons or position, and without them you and I would eventually die. So what about everything else we often refer to as needs? Are they really needs at all? Does God care about them too? Where is the distinction between my wants as a person and my needs? These are legitimate questions and I will be dedicating the next three posts to this topic.

 

“Are they really needs at all?”

Beyond the basic survival needs that we as humans all share, there are situations that people face individually that need to be addressed in some way. If you have no regard for the law and couldn’t care less about the consequences of your actions, then you might be fine with stealing food or clothing or even shelter (might be a little hard to pull this off without many people noticing though) to supply for your own needs.

 

However, if you choose to be a law abiding citizen then you will need a better method for obtaining the basic needs in life. For most people this is called a JOB. You know, that old fashioned thing where if you work, you get paid? I know, it’s a radical concept for a few people just waking up from the 1970’s that are still under the delusion that life is a free ride and governments were established for the sole purpose of enabling their poor lifestyle habits. For the rest of us, a job enables us to create the financial means we need to meet the basic needs of our family. If we are smart enough not to spend every penny that comes in and instead put a little away consistently for our future, then down the road 40 or 50 years when our bodies don’t have as much steam left in them, we’ll have something to financially sustain us (I know, another amazing concept!).

 

Where most people get hung up is during the middle stage of our life, when our lifestyles and focus gets off track. Perhaps I should back up here. If you are a Christ follower, someone that isn’t a mere hearer of the Word (The Bible), but is a doer of the Word (James 1:22), then our focus is supposed to be one that is constantly looking for ways to share God’s love with others. Our lifestyle is supposed to emulate that of Jesus while he walked the earth. Too many people get the job, start the life they envisioned for themselves by trying to keep up with the Jones next door, and completely forget their primary purpose of being on this planet, which is to live a life that emulates Christ. Instead, they seek only to satisfy their own desires, wants, and needs, and give little to no regard to those living all around them. Of course, it’s not always a complete disregard for others or one-upping our neighbors that gets us into financial trouble. Often it’s simply doing things out of order, like buying those clothes, that plasma HDTV, or going to that nice private school, without really having the money to pay for them. We use debt instead of cash to support the lifestyle(s) we want even though we don’t have the tangible, financial means to do so. Then months, or years, later we wake up to the realization that we are drowning in our financial river of mistakes and we need help!

 

Is there any help for us whenever we find we need it? Is God really interested in helping us get out of our own financial messes? I’ll explore the answer to this in my next post.

 

(Here are the links to a few other posts related to this topic including “My Flag is Higher” and “A Spending Culture“)