Fund Raising in This Economy

Wouldn’t you know it? Just when Nancy and I need to find financial partners to stand with us in our new member care ministry with Barnabas International, the economy of the whole world goes into the tank. But we know better than to ask God, “What were you thinking?” We have been around long enough to know that our ways are not His ways. His word is very clear on the fact that “the just shall live by faith.” His word also says,

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.” Isaiah 30:15

These are trying times, without a doubt. But God’s ability to provide is in no way hampered by the economic disasters of mankind. It is, after all, the trying times that turn our hearts to a renewed awareness of our dependence on God. We find it quite easy to imagine that some men and women of faith will benefit by the rather grim reminder that a 401k is no more secure than the plans of the “rich fool” who said to himself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." Luke 12:19

The passage from Isaiah 30 above was written to those who wanted to flee to Egypt for safety, but God was telling them to repent and trust. Like the Israelites left in the land after most of the population had been deported to Babylon, our human nature does not want to rest quietly and trust in God. We want to take vigorous action to rescue ourselves. But to do so is a declaration that we do not trust God to deliver us.

The Lord Jesus, himself, urged us to look at the ravens for encouragement when we begin to worry about how we will get by. “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”
Luke 12:7

When you pray for us, pray that we will trust God even in these unsettling circumstances. And if the Lord nudges you to share something from the little storehouses you have been preparing for yourselves, we pray that you, too, will trust God and not cling to and depend upon your own resources.

All of us are called to repent of any notion that we can get through this life on our own. All of us are called to place our trust in God and rest quietly in the confidence that he alone is our salvation. He is infinitely worthy of our trust.