The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
All the talk in the media about the negative effects of the recession is enough to give you nightmares. Nobody is going to be happy about cutbacks in the work force or in the loss of a job. According to an article in MacLean's magazine the effects of a recession are not all negative. In such times we smoke less, drink less, we exercise some long-forgotten virtues: self-restraint and thrift. In the United Kingdom divorce lawyers say the slowdown in the economy is causing couples to stay together rather than face divorce. Do we ever think of the negative effects of becoming too prosperous? Is it always desirable to have an ever increasing standard of living? Is there a greater amount of true happiness generated by the accumulation of wealth? The Bible warns of the danger of prosperity in that it often leads people to a false sense of security - to a neglect of dependence on God and to an increase in immorality. It is fashionable to look around for someone to blame when times are tough. What about blaming the Americans, the Europeans, our own government, but why not put the blame where the blame really belongs - on God, yes, God! Let us not try to defend God when things aren't going well. The Bible teaches that God is sovereign in human affairs. He is the one that raises up and puts down. He gives prosperity and brings adversity. When God brings adversity and hardship we must not be overwhelmed or become discontented. We ought to bow our knees in thanksgiving that God has not left us to go on in our pernicious ways that lead to eternal destruction. Be thankful that He has intervened to make us aware of the false security of material things. There are times when God takes away the things in which we have put our trust, in order to turn us to Himself. Our Lord Jesus says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Can it be that God has brought tough times to awaken us to our spiritual need? The Old Testament writer Habakkuk points us in the right direction in his magnificent hymn of faith in chapter 3 verses 17 and 18. "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails, and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. This is the source of our well being.
