Editor's note: We offer you this timely article from the July/August 2004 Upper Room daily devotional guide. Coming soon: Prayers for Hard Times: Words of Faith in a Financial Crisis. This resource will be available in our online bookstore for a nominal fee. Watch for its release in February.

MOST of us know someone who has recently lost a job; layoffs are happening everywhere. Broadcast news reports cutbacks and restructurings in many segments of the economy. And wherever you live, there’s probably an industry or a major employer near you that is struggling. Times are tough.

When we face economic insecurity, the temptation is to fix our attention on what we lack or what we may lose. Our emotional field of vision can become filled with fear. In my own life, times of financial struggle or general insecurity make me feel like a vulnerable child. I didn’t like that feeling when I was literally a vulnerable child, and I do not like it as an adult. I have said often that I hate my own neediness; I want to be self-sufficient. But I have also learned that on a deep, spiritual level, my needs are like a tether; they keep me linked to God. I am not self-sufficient, and I am not meant to be. None of us is. As Deuteronomy 8:17-18 tells us, we cannot provide for ourselves without God's help. All that we have, even the strength to work at our jobs, is a gift from God. When we see this with eyes of faith, our fears about jobs and daily needs can become continual reminders that we are connected to God, our source for everything good.

We also have the Bible’s repeated promises that God takes up the cause of those in need. And God is with us regardless of the world’s changes. Even when human systems fail us, as they inevitably will, people of faith have a more reliable and closer resource.

God offers us unfailing comfort and help and will be with us as we work to change the systems that keep us and others in need. The same One who gives us "power to get wealth" (see Deuteronomy 8:18) is also with us when health and wealth are gone. This faithful God is our only lasting security.

Several meditations in July/August 2004 issue touch on matters of economic insecurity and faith. You may want to read the meditations for July 2, 5, 9, 22 and August 11, 14, 16, 23, and 25 as preparation for reflection.

Questions for Reflection

1. Think of a time when you have been in need. What did you need, and how did you cope with not having what you needed? How did you feel toward God?
2. What would you say to someone who felt near despair because of unmet needs? What do you say to yourself about your needs?
3. In times of change and insecurity, what Bible stories or verses help you to turn to God for help?
4. By what means is God providing for your needs today? For what are you grateful?
5. Where do you see evidence of God's provision in your past? In food and shelter? A job? The gift of education? Music? Loving companions? In what other area? How can you make the practice of grateful attentiveness into a daily discipline?

- Mary Lou Redding

From The Upper Room^® daily devotional guide, July/August 2004. Copyright © 2004 The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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