For those struggling financially …
There may be a temptation to follow various get-rich-quick schemes. Most of these things are candy-coated poison. Yes, I have talked to people who make multiple thousands of dollars a day. (One guy made $500,000 a day.) But making that kind of money requires you to build a certain kind of business foundation that God may or may not be calling you to build. Focus rather on how you can use the skills God has given you to meet a legitimate need. If something smells fishy, it probably is.
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! — 2 Corinthians 9:15
[Note: I wrote this five years ago, when we were going through a particularly rough time financially.]
Do any of us really want to be needy? I don’t. I want to have a bumper crop of health and prosperity so I have plenty to give and plenty to keep.
But all of us will be needy at different times. As we fall through successive layers of need, what is really in our hearts comes to the surface.
Here’s what was in mine:
Self-doubt. Dwight, have you been a fool? You say you’ve been hearing from God, but if you were really hearing from God you wouldn’t be in such a mess.
Pride and shame. What’s wrong with my contribution to my world? I’m a man. I’m a smart man. I don’t want anybody paying my way. I want to pay my own way.
God doubt. Okay, God, where are You? I keep telling people You are going to show up. Where are You? Deep down inside, are You really aloof and cruel? Do You really enjoy seeing Your children squirm?
Then, like a spring day when you walk outside and flowers are suddenly in bloom, expressions of God’s heart show up. Someone shows up at the door with bag after bag of groceries. I get a call to stop by the church because someone has left a box of Christmas presents for our children, cash for our family. Someone else sends an anonymous money order. Another writes a check. Still another trades in his Christmas gift to give us the money to make our annual trip to Ohio to see my wife’s family.
But it really hit me when I was in the Dollar store last night with my four kids. I went there because I wanted them to each be able to buy a gift for their mother. But I felt like God was saying, “Let them each buy a gift for every member of the family. It will be okay, you’ll see.” So I let them do it, even though I didn’t have enough money with me to pay for all that. While I was there, I ran into an old friend. We chatted for a few minutes and then she went back to her shopping. As I was standing in the checkout line, she walked by, quickly pressed a couple folded bills into my hand, and disappeared. I know that she doesn’t have a lot of money. But there it was, enough money to pay for everything in my cart.
I think it was at this point that I finally began to understand the heart of God. We are neither friendless nor alone. The sacrifice and kindness of others made God’s heart real to me — His heart full of kindness, good humor and care. For those who gave, I thank you, if you are reading this, and I pray that all you gave will return to you a thousand times. But I know that whenever we give, we are instantly richer, because we have entered into the heart of God.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
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