Trust God with your Career and your Finances

These are very confusing times indeed. The stock market is down 700 plus points one day and up 200 points the next. The Fed is pumping money into the economy literally by the TRILLION and yet loans are hard to come by. Many people don’t know if their company will lay workers off or not and some do not even know if their company will survive or not.

We as Christians should normally trust God with the direction of our lives and careers just as a matter of course. However, in turbulent times like these it is even more important to have faith in Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 says

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

We must remember that God’s plans are not dependent on a strong economy. His resources are not tied up in real estate loans that no one will buy or stocks prices that seem like they are racing toward zero. If we trust God to meet our needs we can have peace by knowing that even in extremely perilous times like these the Lord still has the power to meet our needs.

Besides, if you do not trust the Lord than whom will you trust? You cannot trust the market to take care of your needs because it is in the middle of a crash at the moment. You can’t rely on the Government because they are already throwing everything but the kitchen sink at this crisis and yet there has not been much improvement so far. You can’t rely on your company since it never made you any promise to carry you through an economic collapse. Only God is worthy of complete trust because He has more than enough power and resources to get you through this.

Do you need a new job to replace one that was lost? Philippians says that “God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory” Do you need great wisdom to make good decisions about your career or your investments? In James, the Lord promises to give wisdom to anyone who asks and believes they will get it. Do you need guidance to be sure you are in the right place and doing the right things? God promises that the steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord.

We just need to be sure to work diligently at all the things which are in our control. Then we need to trust God to step in and take care of the things that are not. For example, I do not think that God will rain money down on someone who is unwilling to use whatever knowledge and ability they might have to try and be productive. However, I am convinced that if you make a good faith effort to hold up your end by working hard, reducing risk, cutting your expenses and trusting the Lord completely then He will show up and cause your efforts to succeed.

I realize it is easier to talk about trusting God than it is to actually do it so I would like to suggest a few techniques to help pull it off.

Think about times where God has come through in the past.

This is one that I am using a lot lately. When I see the markets in turmoil and people losing their jobs it is like deja vu for me. It reminds me of the mess the economy was in after 9/11 during which I was laid off. Although that was a tough time, God began providing alternative sources of income for my family from all sorts of unexpected places and he eventually supplied me with a much better job which I really love. This new job has also proven to be relatively secure so far during this current crisis.
Naturally, I hope it stays that way. However, I can honestly say that I have not lost a minute of sleep worrying about being laid off because I now know from first hand experience that if I were to lose this job that God is fully willing and able to supply my needs in the midst of a layoff and use it to lead me to a job even better than the one I lost.

Filter your information

The Bible tells us that faith comes by hearing. In crazy times like these it is important to be aware of what is going on. However, you must be discerning about which messages you listen to and how much information you take in. If you spend all your time watching the business news, reading the papers and talking to others who are panicking it will not take long for the fear and confusion to overwhelm you. You must limit your information to objective facts. Don’t waste time listening to endless commentary warning that the sky is falling. It will only bring you down more. You should also tightly restrict how much time you devote to news gathering. Spend just enough time to be well informed and not more. Do not obsess on gathering input all day long and into the night. Last but not least, balance the incoming bad news with positive messages. Read and meditate on the promises of God. Find positive, can-do people to hang around with. You need to be aligned with other folks who have enough vision to see beyond the crisis at hand and anticipate the recovery at the other end. You should be encouraging each other and helping each other in whatever way you can.

Remember that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain

If you really stop and think about it there is no downside to trusting God to provide for your needs during this crisis. You will (or at least should) be taking all the actions to protect yourself that are within your power in any event. Once you have done all you can do you have a fairly simple choice. You could trust the Lord to bless your efforts and supply your needs or you could just sit around and worry that efforts may not be good enough.

If you choose to trust God you can enjoy the relief of knowing that the final outcome is not totally dependent on you. You can have peace knowing your part is covered and God will do the rest.

If you choose not to believe in Him then you are fully subject to the fear and panic that is gripping the rest of the world. This problem is so much bigger than any one of us. Before recent weeks the only time I recall anyone even using the word trillion was in high school math class. Now I suddenly hear it every day in the business news because the problem is that big. After all, a trillion dollars here and a trillion dollars there…..before you know it that starts to add up to some real money.

People that do not believe God look at the shear size of the problem and become panic stricken. They realize that there is no way they can really guarantee their own security based only on their own actions so they try everything they can think of but still end up frightened that they will lose their job, or their house, or their savings or even all three. Then they get angry at the markets and at the government because they had put their trust in those institutions and now that trust has been violated.

Life is too short to be stressed out like that. I prefer to take prudent measures such as doing the very best I can at my job so that I am considered a top performer and cutting expenses where I can and then putting my faith in God to make a way for me through this crisis just as He has done in the last one.

Stumble it!

Tags: career, God, job, trust, work