Ordinary Times

   "For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Hebrews 13:5

   This is a tough time for a lot of people. We counsel people who have deep financial problems due to reduced income, or high expenses or both. Sometimes it is self inflicted and sometimes just the circumstances of the times. Their reactions run the gamut from fear to trust. Some are scared, and some hinge their outlook on the verse from Hebrews above.

   I cannot say that I have ever been through tough financial times. There have been times I have despaired of a situation, and did not know how it would work out, but it did. Even in those times, my recognition of the Hand of God in the matter was more in the aftermath, and not as much in the living through it. Twenty- twenty hindsight showed how God worked, but at the time, I did not see Him.

   Do I stop to realize how He is working in the ordinary days of my life? My IRA has not tanked, my house is not close to foreclosure, there is not a thought of what I will eat tomorrow, or next week, or next month. I tend to live as if I had put a great financial plan in place, and that God will continue to bless these efforts. I am not like the man in the parable that was tearing down his barns so he could build bigger ones for all his stuff, but neither am I continually giving God thanks for his care over my life.

   It is easy to give a quick "Thank You", when times are not pressing, without being truly thankful. The good times can be more dangerous to my faith than the bad.

   God has said that He will not leave us or forsake us, and that is true in the "good times" as well as the bad.

   God, help me to give more than lip service to that fact.