Making Some 'Cents' Out Of This Recession

As the economic turmoil unfolds here in the US and elsewhere globally, it is easy to get caught up with it - fear for our jobs, providing for our family as well as for others - and the gloom that can unsettle us. But remember that God is Sovereign and Supreme over All things. He is Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent - the market is certainly not. Keep the faith and run to Him.

John Piper is one of my favorites - for this post, I like to highlight his latest writing and preaching during these uncertain times. He reminds us why God allows recessions. Here are his five reasons:

1. To Expose Sin and Bring Repentance
2. To Awaken Us to World Poverty
3. To Relocate the Roots of Our Joy in His Grace, Rather Than in Our Goods
4. To Guard His Glory by Advancing His Saving Mission in the World Precisely When Human Resources Are Low
5. To Bring His Church to Care for Her Hurting Members and Grow in Love

I am especially thankful for #3 - it is counter intuitive to me but by His grace, I am reminded to refocus on Him rather than on what I have. So I take comfort in the following verses found in Jeremiah 17: 5-8:

5 This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."