I find myself asking that question a lot these days. Do you? Do you ever think, “What in the world is going on?” I find today’s environment quite surreal. In many ways, it’s quite a pleasure having some real down time—time with my family, time in the Word, actually even a bit of time to work out now and then! But it can also be a bit scary—especially as we start to think about what the future looks like.
A couple of Sundays ago, Billy shared a passage from the end of Romans 8. These are some of my favorite verses in all of Scripture—
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
and
“No, in ALL these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers (or virus!), nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
AMEN!
I don’t know about you, but I have personally been impacted financially from this pandemic. Many of you know that I work for Alaska Airlines—the airline business is not doing well these days. One of the first things we did to help slow down the cash burn was to cut pay for the executive team—so I took a 20% pay cut. In fact, with the 60% decline in Alaska’s stock price and the elimination of any real bonus this year, it is much more severe than that.
I tell you—that has been tough. I’m a planner. I try to manage my resources in a way that aligns with biblical principles and God’s perfect will, but I still lean on my own strength many times. Moments in life like this help me to realize that I am NOT in control and frankly, that is humbling…and a bit scary. So, when all of this started and I watched much of my savings start to dwindle, I didn’t first go to prayer. I tried to handle the fear by myself: I slowed down discretionary spending, I slowed down saving, I refinanced my mortgage. All good things, but I still felt anxious. Why? Because I didn’t go to the creator of the universe with this very personal issue. Then I did. And God gave me Romans 8—before Billy even preached on it (it’s one of my go-to passages!). I have everything I need, because I have a God who loves me and is on my side. I’m more than blessed—why? Because I have a great job, I have an amazing family, I have an encouraging church family, and most importantly, I have a Savior through whom I am MORE than a conqueror.
Many of you have it much worse from a financial viewpoint. Maybe you’ve lost your job or your business is failing. Maybe your retirement accounts have taken a big hit. Maybe you haven’t been able to pay your rent or mortgage. I don’t know exactly how this crisis has impacted you financially—but I guarantee that God does know. And if God is for us, then who can be against us? Your job can’t be against you. Your bank account can’t be against you. Your family and friends can’t be against you. It may seem like it sometimes, but God stands between us and the world. Why? Because He is our protector, the lover of our souls, and our awesome creator.
Through Jesus, we have security in something so much more important than money, our jobs, our home. We are heirs to the greatest inheritance this world has ever seen. And that is worth praising God for each and every day.