Facing The Economic Giants

It appears that we are facing a severe economic crisis, a crisis that many believe will be with us for several years, and several others believe will cause a depression that will take a decade or more to recover from. Regardless of the specific outcome one thing is for certain, your life will change. The prosperity of the nineties is gone and there are many giants that you must now face in order to cope with this crisis.

The Israelites faced giants of their own after they left Egypt and were told to trust God and move into the promised land of Canaan (Numbers 13 & 14). The Amalekites, Hittites, Amorites, and Canaanites occupied the land and they were strong and powerful, giants compared to the Israelites. The Lord wanted them to trust that He would be with them as they faced the giants, that He would not abandon them but cause them to be victorious over their enemies. The people rebelled and refused to trust God. They did not want to face the giants. In fact, they wanted to go back to Egypt and return to slavery, thinking that would be better than having to face the giants. God forgave them of their sin of unfaithfulness, but the consequence of their sin was that they would wonder the desert for 40 years. Only two men and their decedents would enter the land at the end of the 40 years, Joshua and Caleb, because they “had a different spirit and followed (God) wholeheartedly” (Numbers 14:24).

In order to face the giants of an economic downturn, the giants of a potential job loss, the loss of a discretionary income, the increase violence that is predicted to occur, the loss of conveniences and necessary supplies, the potential loss of a home, the loss of retirement savings, and so on, you must do several things:

1.) Trust God. Trust that God has not abandoned you but will be with you through whatever you face. God does not promise freedom from suffering but that He will be with us through the suffering. You may suffer greatly through these next years due to your own past poor choices, or because of the poor choices of a collective nation. Because our nation has abandoned God, He very well may have given us over to the consequences of our sin (Romans 1:21-32). Turning away from God causes minds to become futile and hearts to become darkened. This is what has happened to the US over the last few decades and now we have “trouble and distress” to face (Rom. 2:8-9). But to the believer, he promises His presence and guidance to see us through.

2.) Prepare. Placing your faith in God does not mean you become passive. Doing nothing and expecting God to bail you out is not faith but foolishness! The Israelites had to prepare themselves for battle! They had to physically train, prepare their battle weapons and gear, and strengthen their minds for war. So to you must prepare. You must get your finances in order, focusing on the preservation of capital. You must begin saving money and saving supplies. You would do well to read material that helps prepare you for worse case scenarios, such as Michael Panzner’s Financial Armageddon. As he says, “Assume the worst, hope for the best, and be prepared for whatever happens” (p. 143), and, “People will underestimate the severity of the dangers ahead and fail to take the necessary steps at the outset… being left penniless.” Preparation is key to successfully deal with a crisis. Many people will falsely blame God for abandoning them while the fault for their troubles lies squarely on their own heads! One of the most important things to do is to prepare your mind (Rom. 12:2)! Those who deny the crisis, maintain a rigid inflexible stance regarding living expectations, or believe they will be able to think on their feet and handle things as they come without proper preparation, could get so stressed out when reality hits that they literally fall apart.

3.) Execute. When wisdom or God’s spirit tell you to go, go! Many people will have regrets for not listening to wisdom or their own internal promptings. Faith is active. Faith requires risk taking. Faith requires change. Part of the Israelites problem was that they were not willing to push into change. Their failure was not only a spiritual failure to trust God, but a mental failure to properly deal with the Limbic brain. The Limbic part of our brain controls our emotions and desires. It likes patterns and routines best, so when change is required, you will feel fear and resistance because the Limbic part of your brain does not recognize the new pattern. It will tell you something is wrong simply because it does not recognize the new pattern and does not want to change. It will even tell you go back to an old pattern even if that pattern was very bad. This is why the Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt. It was bad, but at least it was familiar! A great book re: mental preparation is Victor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning. He is a psychologist who survived 3-years in a German concentration camp. It is a fascinating read. As he says (paraphrased), “In times of crisis, life does not owe something to you but rather life is requiring something from you” (see also the quote from Lord of the Rings at the bottom of the post titled, “Wake UP!”). In order to deal with a crisis, you must push past internal resistances and execute change.

When we fail to trust God and deal with the giants in our lives, we end up wondering aimlessly for potentially many, many years, just like the Israelites. It’s best to face the giants and find freedom, confidence, security, and God’s pleasure in doing so.