Worried About the Recession? 3 Biblical Keys You Must RememberSample

Yesterday we started with an essential promise that God will provide! But today, I want to look at a Biblical example of when Israel’s whole world was turned upside down and the instructions God gave them. In Jeremiah 29, we see Jeremiah writing instructions for those exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. Imagine being forced from your home to a land you didn’t know under an oppressive regime. This is what many from Jerusalem were experiencing at that time. While not exactly the same thing as a recession, I believe there are lessons we can take from Jeremiah’s instructions to them that will serve us well regardless of what our economy is doing. 4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” As I read this, it looked to me like Israel was feeling defeated, unmotivated, and wanted to give up. I would guess many thought, “We were taken from our homeland against our will to this foreign land; why even try?” But God encourages them to not focus on the difficulties and unfairness of the situation but instead to keep living their lives with hope and expectation. To plant roots by building houses and building gardens. To keep having weddings and kids. And to seek and pray for the benefit of their oppressors. Yep, even honoring those who were holding them back. So what lessons can we take from this passage today? 1. Let’s not throw in the towel. Yes, many of us suffer financially because of others’ decisions. But let’s keep going. Keep going to work, growing and nurturing our families, and planning for the future. 2. Let’s be praying for our governmental leaders. Regardless of whether we voted for them, let’s pray for them because as our country prospers, we prosper! 3. Let’s keep living life with the confident expectation that God is still at work. Remember what verse 11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Tomorrow, I’ll leave you with some incredibly practical and specific Biblical instructions God gave during a terrible economic crisis.