What kind of encouragement does the Bible have for us in these challenging economic times?

The Bible is filled with many wonderful promises that Christians can embrace and stand on, especially when life gets challenging.

Many people have felt the economic hardship of recent times and there has been no shortage of fear. But Christians have a unique reason to be filled with peace and confidence. Check out the following:

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

Hebrews 13:5-6 (NIV)

And this one…

…godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

1 Timothy 6:6-8 (NIV)

I believe with all my heart that the man who commits his ways to the Lord, honors God with his wealth, and prays daily for God’s provision, will not fail to be protected and provided for—even in the most challenging economic times.

The two passages I quoted above use the word content and that is a key to finding peace as we walk by faith. God never promises that He will make us wealthy, but He does promise over and over that He will sustain us. We need to understand that God allows economic challenges in our lives at times to encourage us to take inventory of our hearts and see what is there related to the biblical idea of contentment.

For anyone dealing with financial challenges I strongly encourage a study of the book of Proverbs. Make a mark in your Bible next to every single passage that speaks of money, wealth, possessions, goods or provision. Then go back and look at them all again. God has powerful things to say about money that we need to pay attention to.

Secondly I would also recommend a reading of the book The Autobiography of George Muller. This book has powerful things to say about trusting God for His day to day provision.