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Can We Save For The Future And
Still Say We Trust God?
By Keith Rawlinson
Volunteer Budget Counselor
Scattered
throughout the Bible are many references to trusting God. The
Bible teaches us not to worry about the future, not to worry about our
needs being met, not to be fearful and so on. If that is
true,
then doesn't saving for possible financial emergencies show that we do
not trust God for our future? How can we say we trust God if
we
are saving money to take care of ourselves in an emergency?
Isn't
that worrying about the future which the Bible tells us not to do?
In
my financial counseling, and in the financial classes I teach,
I
refer to the Bible as the instruction manual. In fact, I
think I
call it that more often than I actually call it the Bible. I
call
it the instruction manual because that's what it is--God's instructions
for how we are to live our lives and have
a relationship with Him and with His Son Jesus Christ.
It seems to me that when one is trying to figure out how to
do
something, an instruction manual is a great place to start.
So,
let's look at what the instruction manual says.
Go
to the ant you lazy person. Consider her ways and be wise,
who
having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the
summer and gathers her food in the harvest.
Proverbs
6:6-8
This
verse is talking about saving for future needs. If the ant
does
not put up her supplies and gather her food while it is available, she
won't have what she needs to get through the winter. Notice
also
that this verse says if a person doesn't do
these things, they are a lazy person.
A prudent man foresees
evil
and hides himself,
but the foolish pass on and are punished. Prov.
22:3
This
verse shows us that a prudent man--a man who is wise and
thoughtful--considers what might happen in the future and prepares
himself. This verse also shows us that those who do not
prepare
for future problems will endure hardships.
The plans of the diligent
lead
surely to
advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.
Prov. 21:5
This verse instructs us to plan for the
future. It says that if we do, it will be to our advantage.
It also says that if we don't plan, we will end up in poverty.
These verses, along with the information given in my article What does God teach
about saving,
tell us that not only is it all right to save, but we are actually
instructed
to save and to prepare for the future. So then, how
can we be trusting God and saving up money to take care of ourselves at
the same time? To answer this question, let's look at two
more
Bible verses:
Trust in the Lord with all
your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. Prov.
3:5
This
first verse tells us that we are to trust in the Lord with all of our
heart. In other words, we are to believe what God teaches and
accept it as true and trustworthy. This verse also tells us
not
to lean on our own understanding; in other words, we trust that how God
teaches us to do things will work, even if we don't fully understand
why we are supposed to do it that way.
A man's heart plans his
way,
but the Lord directs his steps. Prov. 16:9
This
is the verse that I think best answers the question of how we can save
for our future and still say we trust God for our future.
This
verse tells us that a man's heart plans his way. That means
that
it is all right for people to plan for their futures. Part of
planning is to prepare; thus, it is all right for us to prepare for our
futures. The second part of this verse, however, is the more
important part. In order for the first part of the verse to
work,
we must also do the second part. The second part of the verse
says that the Lord directs our steps. In other words, we are
doing things the way God teaches us to do them. What is the
most
important means by which God teaches how to do things His way?
Simple, He put it all in writing in the instruction manual
(the
Bible). In fact, the Bible teaches that if we are directed to
do
anything any way other than how the Bible directs us to do it, then
those directions are not
from God.
That
all makes perfect sense. We cannot say that we are doing
everything God's way if we are not even doing what God told us to
in writing. Not through tradition, not through prophecy or
supernatural insight, but through a written instruction manual provided
by God Himself thousands of years ago. Think about it this way:
trusting God means doing things His way, and the best resource for
determining His way is the Bible itself. So, if we are
reading
God's written instructions and following them, it is because we are trusting that
the way God tells us to do things is correct--quite simply, we follow
God's instructions because
we trust Him. Well, just looking at what the Bible says about
saving as discussed in my article What does God teach
about saving,
we can plainly see that we are instructed by God Himself, through the
instruction manual, to save and to prepare for the future. If
we
fail to follow God's written instructions, then that is not
trusting God. Following His written instructions is
trusting God. If we ignore God's instructions which
tell us
to save and prepare for future needs, and just expect God to bail us
out supernaturally should we get into trouble, then we are not trusting
God. In that situation, how can we say that we are trusting
God
when we are not doing what He told us to do? We can't!
So, there's our answer. If we are doing what God's
instruction manual, the Bible, tells us to do, then we are
trusting God. And since saving for emergencies and preparing
for
the future are things God tells us to do in His instruction manual,
then doing those things is
trusting God.
Can we save for the future and still say we trust God?
Absolutely! In fact, how can we say we trust God if
we are not
saving for the future? After all, He did tell us to do
so.
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This article copyright © 2009 by
Keith C. Rawlinson
(Eclecticsite.com). All rights reserved.
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