Help! - 6 January 2009

“A storm swept over the lake…and the disciples feared they would drown.” Luke 8: 22-25 [NIV]

2008 has gone.  We learned new expressions during the year: “credit crunch” and “toxic debt” being front-runners.  When added to the golden oldies like “recession”, “unemployment” and “negative equity” it provided the national media with a feeding frenzy of gloom and despair.  Even Victor Meldrew couldn’t be so pessimistic!

With each banking scandal and stock market collapse came a period of respite, to be overtaken by yet another revelation of mismanagement in high places.  2008 will be remembered as a year of massive readjustment in financial circles when the stock market crashed, house prices fell, pensions and investments lost value, banks went under and national economies felt the domino effect of a global system.  And a great human cost!

As citizens we are not immune from or untouched by these traumatic events. Nor must we be at their mercy.  We are called to be wise in financial matters as in any other field and need to learn to spot the trends - the peaks and troughs.

In this climate of fear and uncertainty God’s word to us is crystal clear:

Don’t be afraid.  I am with you.

I haven’t done the sums myself but I once heard an eminent teacher say that the expression “fear not” appears 365 times in the Bible, that’s one for every day.  When God repeats something it’s important.  When he repeats it 365 times we need to take notice.

 Every day we must resist fear and its children - anxiety, panic, foreboding and so on.

Every day we need to lay hold of Emmanuel – God with us – and walk with Him.