WHAT TO DO IN TROUBLED ECONOMIC TIMES

WHAT TO DO IN TROUBLED ECONOMIC TIMES Proverbs 30:7-9 February 22, 2009 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction Most people I talk to are really worried about the current economic health of the country, especially as it affects their own lives. My counsel is consistently that we need to listen hard to what God might be saying to us in trying times. We should listen, of course in all our circumstances, but I’ve found that when the going is rough our hearing improves, don’t you? The question I think we all ought to be asking during this economic stress isn’t so much Whose fault is it? Or How bad can it get? Or not even Will I lose everything? The real question is, What might God be teaching me? And the follow-on question is, Will I retain that wisdom when the financial storms are over? When we do reflect on the things that got us all into the situation we’re in, most of us would agree that it was such things as DISHONESTY at high and low levels, GREED that drove a lot of immoral decisions, IGNORANCE of what was really happening (no accountability), and USURY (applying unfair interest rates). This morning, I’d like us to consider some good, old-fashioned wisdom, right out of the Book of Proverbs. It’s interesting, but all the elements of worldly wisdom were exactly the opposite of godly wisdom. The Bible teaches that Honesty is the best policy. Not only does honesty honor God, and serve our fellow man, it turns out it’s actually the best thing for us as well. The Bible also teaches the importance of contentment. Contentment is that state of being satisfied with what God has given you and the circumstances He has allowed you to be in, as opposed to striving in immoral ways to get all we can and can all we get. More about this later. Then there is the wisdom God shares with us in His Word. It turns out every time that God’s way is the best way, and living by His wisdom beats human ignorance every time. (Lk 12:15) "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." The Book of Proverbs also has much to say about the virtue of generosity which is exactly the opposite of greed-driven usury. It is always a good idea to ask concerning a decision we have to make, Is this move going to benefit only me, or is it going to be a blessing to others? The counsel of God’s Word is to “look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4) Prayerfully let’s look closely at Proverbs 30:7-9 Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I might have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. A Prayer for No Poverty The first thing that Agur prays to God for is no poverty. "I ask of you, O LORD ... give me no poverty." He is talking about real poverty here, a grinding poverty that involves difficult choices, a poverty that leaves you with few, if any, options. This sounds familiar! Isn’t it what we’re hearing today? I’m afraid of losing my home, my job, my IRA. Who could speak more realistically about the illusion of a yuppie value system than Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who suffered deprivation of all that money can buy? In "The Prison Chronicle" he says, as few of us can, "Don't be afraid of misfortune and do not yearn after happiness. It is, after all, all the same. The bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. It is enough if you don't freeze in the cold, and if hunger and thirst don't claw at your sides. If your back isn't broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms work, if both eyes can see, and if both ears can hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart and prize above all else in the world those who love you and wish you well." Who among us has not struggled during this season of taxes and said to himself sometime between Feb. 1 and April 15, You know, I need this money a lot more than the federal government, and they’ll never notice if I fudge here or there… Agur knew his own vulnerability to sin. And he admitted that the reason he didn’t want God to let him fall into poverty was he didn’t want to become poor and steal, thus dishonoring God. That’s actually pretty neat, isn’t it? He didn’t say I don’t want to steal, get caught and end up in jail, but he said that if he stole, he was afraid he would dishonor God. Isn’t the desire to not dishonor God a far better motive than the threat of jail time? A Prayer for No Riches The second thing that Agur prays to God for is no riches. He prays, I ask of you, O LORD ... give me no riches. Everyone, I dare say, wants to be rich. Everyone wants to have money, and wealth, and an abundance of possessions. But, as Agur wisely notes, there are dangers in riches. The addictive nature of riches. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes warns us that money is addictive, that no matter how much you have you never think you have enough. He says, (Eccl 5:10) Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. Have you ever heard yourself say, "I wouldn't do that for $1 million"? In Bernice Kanner's book, Are You Normal About Money?, Americans reveal just how far they'd go to make a buck: For $1 million: 65 percent would live on a deserted island for a year. 30 percent would spend six months in jail for a crime they didn't commit. For $3,000: 24 percent would reveal a friend's deep, dark secret they swore to keep. For $500: 66 percent would kiss a stranger. For $50: 75 percent would kiss a frog. Riches desensitize people to gratitude and humility. I would suggest that Agur did not want to get to the place where he took God’s provisions for granted. In Hollywood there is an exclusive school attended by children of movie stars, producers, and directors. Asked to write a composition on the subject of poverty, one little girl started her literary piece with: "Once there was a poor little girl. Her father was poor, her mother was poor, her nanny was poor, her chauffeur was poor, her butler was poor. In fact, everybody in the house was very, very poor." There was a rich yuppie who parked his BMW, then opened his door to get out when a car crashed into it, tearing the door clean off the car. The yuppie jumped out and started screaming, “My Beamer, my Beamer!” A police officer came up to him and said, “Are you crazy? You’re so worried about your ‘beamer’ you didn’t even notice you lost your left arm in that crash.” The man looked down and screamed, “My Rolex! My Rolex!” The reason Agur was concerned about getting riches, he says, is that he knew his own weakness. He knew, predictably, that if God blessed him by having the Publisher’s Clearing House guys show up at his door, he would probably fall head over heels with his riches and forget all about God. A wealthy businessman lay on his deathbed. His preacher came to visit and talked about God’s healing power and prayed for him. When the preacher was done, the businessman said, “Preacher, if God heals me, I’ll give the church a million dollars.” Miraculously, the businessman got better and within a few short weeks was out of the hospital. Several months later, the preacher bumped into this businessman on the sidewalk and said, “You know, when you were in the hospital dying, you promised to give the church a million dollars if you got well. We haven’t received it as of yet.” The businessman replied, “Did I say that? I guess that goes to show how sick I really was!” Riches never satisfy. Money and riches at a level above what we need is dangerous, because if you esteem such riches, you’ll never think you have enough. That’s why the wise man of Proverbs teaches us that having enough is…well, enough. Riches are addictive. Agur knew the danger of always wanting more, of never being satisfied; he knew what money could and could not buy; but that is not why he offers his prayer. Agur has a theological reason for offering the prayer that he does. He prays, "I ask of you, O LORD ... give me no riches ... otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?'" Jenny Lind, the great Swedish soprano, disappointed many of her friends because she turned down so many big contracts that would have made her world-famous. One day a friend surprised her sitting on a sunny seashore reading the New Testament. The friend rebuked the singer for not seizing her chances. Quickly, Jenny Lind put her hand over her Testament and said, "I found that making vast sums of money was spoiling my taste for this." A Prayer for Just Enough The third thing that Agur prays to God for is “just enough”. So he prays, "I ask of you, O LORD ... give me only my daily bread." Agur doesn't want poverty. Agur doesn't want riches. Agur wants only what he needs, enough to live on, and what he can righteously handle. TOLSTOY: There was a rich man who was never satisfied. He always wanted more. He heard of a wonderful chance to get more land. For a thousand rubles he could have all the land that he could walk around in a day. But he had to make it back to the starting point by sundown or he would lose it all. He arose early and set out. He walked on and on, thinking that he could get just a little more land if he kept going on. But he went so far that he realized he must walk very fast if he was to get back in time to claim the land. As the sun got lower in the sky, he quickened his pace. He began to run. As he came within sight of the starting place, he exerted his last energies, plunged over the finish line, fell to the ground, and collapsed. A stream of blood poured out of his mouth and he lay dead. His servant took a spade and dug a grave. He made it just long enough and just wide enough and buried him. Back to the title of this story: "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" Tolstoy answers that by saying, "Enough for a grave – six feet from his head to his heels was all that he needed." This is a prayer that he would be happy with what he has. If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like this: 70 would be non-Christian 30 would be Christian 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States. 80 would live in substandard housing 70 would be unable to read 50 would suffer from malnutrition 1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth; 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education; 1 would own a computer When you consider our world from this compressed perspective, the world looks a lot different. And so do our circumstances. The poor people we met in Niger were among the poorest of the poorest of the world. But, by and large, they were happy people. Visiting with them in the midst of their poverty and simple, stripped down and dangerously minimal circumstances, you could quickly surmise that they are happy with what little they have, contented with their circumstances. Are you? Based on these statistics . . . If you have a little food in the refrigerator, any clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep . . . you are richer than 75% of this world. If your bills are paid and you have any money in the bank, in your wallet, or even spare change in a dish someplace . . . you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness . . . you’re more blessed than the million who won’t survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation . . . you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death . . . you are more blessed than three billion people in the world. Why do we get our shorts all in a knot about not having more? Maybe because we forgot to pray this prayer of Agur. WHAT DO WE LEARN IN THE MIDST OF ECONOMIC DIFFICULTY? Poverty, according to the Proverbs, can come on a person, usually because of laziness, poor work habits, and, we know, because of addictive sins like gambling, alcohol, drugs and other behavioral wealth-killers. One way to avoid poverty is to get yourself right with God, and start living according to godly wisdom. That would be living in line with such values and a good work ethic, a dedication to pay your debts and take care of yourself and your family, and an avoidance of dissipating sins. Poverty can also come on an individual because of calamity, the sins of others, testing from God, poor choices made out of ignorance or imprudence. And poverty can come on you so quickly. Thousands of white collar workers have almost overnight lost their jobs and their $600,000 homes to foreclosure. Proverbs teaches there is prudence in saving for the rainy day, be wise about your economic climate and preparing prudently. BILLY GRAHAM, in his book Just As I Am, wrote of a telling experience: Some years ago Ruth and I had a vivid illustration of this on an island in the Caribbean. One of the wealthiest men in the world had asked us to come to his lavish home for lunch. He was 75 years old, and throughout the entire meal he seemed close to tears. "I am the most miserable man in the world," he said. "Out there is my yacht. I can go anywhere I want to. I have my private plane, my helicopters. I have everything I want to make my life happy, yet I am as miserable as hell." We talked to him and prayed with him, trying to point him to Christ, who alone gives lasting meaning to life. Then we went down the hill to a small cottage where we were staying. That afternoon the pastor of the local Baptist church came to call. He was an Englishman, and he too was 75—a widower who spent most of his time taking care of his two invalid sisters. He was full of enthusiasm and love for Christ and others. "I don't have two pounds to my name," he said with a smile, "but I am the happiest man on this island." Billy Graham relates how he asked his wife Ruth after they left, "Who do you think is the richer man?" She didn't have to reply because they both already knew the answer. WHAT IF THE WORST HAPPENS TO ME? WHAT IF I LOSE IT ALL? Listen carefully. If you are a Christian, your life is entirely in Christ, not in yourself. And if anybody knows how to take care of someone, even at the lowest point of their existence, it is Jesus. It was Mother Teresa who said, "You will never know that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you've got." We must learn to trust God—He has our best in mind—He loves us—and He can care for us. Seek His wisdom; ask what lessons He wants to teach you today. To be grateful, wise, prudent, faithful, mature, content. Conclusion Agur, the man of wisdom, makes a request of God. He prays, "I ask of you, O LORD ... give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread." Are you able to pray this?     [Back to Top]