Economic woes or opportunity for faith?

Like many folks, I've been afraid to even look at my retirement accounts for fear of how much lower the value is than it was just a week ago, not to mention a year ago. I get nervous when I hear predictions of economic collapse. I am tempted to get impatient with the gas stations with no gas here in Atlanta this week. I want to grumble about paying $4.50 a gallon after waiting in line when I do find a pump. And I wonder at the intensity and meanness of the political dialogue (if one could call it that!).

But what if I just stop for a few minutes and consider the things that are not on the radar screen of most of us in the USA? Even if my retirement vaporized, the fact I am in a house still puts me among the wealthiest people in the world. If our whole economy were to collapse - I'd be no worse off than the many friends we had in Kazakhstan when we moved there in 1996. I don't like paying $4.50/gallon for gas, but in most countries it's much higher, and the vast majority of people in this world don't even own a car. And as inane as the political debate is and the meanness of the tone, at least varying opinions are allowed and I'm not likely to be shot by someone who holds an opposing view as mine.

I don't know where all the current challenges will lead, but I do know that the Lord does not want us to be myopically focused only on that which affects us. RIght now, hundreds of Christians in the Orissa State of India have fled to the jungles after having their houses burned in a wave of militant Hindu violence. Dozens have been killed. Yet that hasn't shown up once on my home screen of Google's top five news stories. In our churches, are we praying for our brothers and sisters in India in addition to praying for our own economy and our retirement accounts?

Lest anyone think I'm standing in judgement here, let me hasten to assure that I include myself in this. I am astonished at how quickly even someone who lived in a collapsed economy for 10 years among people with limited freedom and now who has seen poverty around the world can get grumpy about waiting 15 minutes to get gas and having to pay more for it! I expect Shawn could identify such a person - she has to live with him!

I guess I would encourage myself and all of us who testify to Christ as Lord that we need to ask Him to help us see the world as He sees it and to maintain His heart for the world, even in times when our self-centered nature pulls us toward self-pity. Especially in uncertain times as this, we can be witnesses to faith in a sovereign Lord, for whom NONE of this is a surprise or even a "blip" on his time line. Can the God - who gives strength to the believers in Orissa who choose death rather than recant their faith - can that God be trusted to see us through these times, regardless of who gets elected, which way the stocks bounce, or whether or not the local gas pump is empty? Let's allow the uncertainty of the times help us not focus on the uncertainty but on God's faithfulness and constancy.