Preparing for the Unseen

Good morning! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with friends and family.

The talk on the lips of the American public these days is the economy. I’ve been chuckling every weeknight during The Tonight Show as Jay Leno breaks into a short burst of one-liners that begin with “The economy’s getting bad I tell you…” The forecasts for the next 18-24 months do not look good for the American economy to say the least.

So the question becomes this, “what preparations have you been making with the resources God is making available to you?” This question got me reflecting upon the story of Joseph this morning. Joseph was sold into slavery, jailed under false accusation and generally mistreated, but Joseph never lost sight of God. Joseph’s faithful service to those who held him captive ultimately led to his rise to prominence in Egypt. It was through this rise to prominence that Joseph was able to provide for his people during 7 years of famine. Look at Joseph’s words as recorded in Genesis:

Genesis 45:5-7 (NASB)
5 “And now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
6 “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
7 “And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.

Sometimes in life we get so self-absorbed with what is wrong in our own piece of the picture that we fail to step back and look at the bigger picture. Joseph heeded the warnings of famine and made adjustments in the land of Egypt that ended up being the provision for the inhabitants of the land when food was scarce. He got beyond the “wrongs” of the past and turned a negative into a positive.

So what has God been doing to prepare you and your family for the things that lie ahead? Perhaps it is time to step back and look at the greater picture. God may have allowed you to go through a job change you didn’t want, because your industry was getting ready to fold. He may have moved you to another part of the country, where the provisions of life are not as difficult to come by. He may have denied you the loan, so you wouldn’t be weighed down by a debt you couldn’t maintain. Of course the preparations are not all negative. Perhaps the bonus or raise you received was given so you could build a cash reserve if things get lean. Maybe that same windfall was given so you could provide more fully for those in need.

Whether the worst fears of the economic forecasters come to pass remains to be seen, but no matter what the outcomes may be, God is already putting the resources and people in place to see His people through the lean times. Today, I encourage you to evaluate the tools that God has given you for provision and care. Thank Him for already making the adjustments in your life that are needed to whether the storms of the future.

Until next Monday may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl