“But to this day the Lord
has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.”
— DEUTERONOMY 29:4 (NRSV)
WE CANNOT always predict the trials that are
impending. Those difficulties that are inbound, we cannot always see; not until
sometimes they are right there in front of us. Many times it’s not until we are
blindsided that we determine the trouble we are in. This is certainly the case
when life situations and circumstances tend their way virulently against us,
causing mental dissonance, emotional flurry, and spiritual chaos.
We need faith for the trials impending.
Abundance and Famine Come to Us All
We need to build our stores, now, as Joseph
did during the seven years of abundance (Genesis 41:53-54), because the seven
years of famine is coming.
Perhaps you are in the seven years of
famine. Maybe you are thankful to God that you sought him wisely during the
years of abundance – you stewarded away a good portion of life-sustaining faith
for such a time as this. Maybe you did that because of an earlier experience
where you didn’t – once bitten, twice shy!
Or, perhaps it’s the case that you are
windswept and barren; in the harshest of those dry land winters of meaningless
spirituality. God is long gone in your view, so is his favour. What price you
would pay for faith right now! Yet, here is a smashing irony... God may have
placed you in such a place, and allowed you to remain there, for stowage of
faith, and the redemption of his strength.
Our human instinct is to store up something
for a rainy day – and not just money.
We are rewarded when we store up humility,
the awareness of blessing, and praise, for the days of darkness looming on the
horizon. It is a wise thing to back off on our consumption, simply to
experience the inflow of God’s revelation – what has happened to our neighbour
may certainly come to us.
Even though we have no mind, eye, or ear for
the trials that are to beset us, we do have God’s availing Presence – through
faith to draw near – and that will get us through.
***
Abundance and famine come to us all. During
the abundance, we are wise to store up faith and strength for ourselves – for
the famine that is coming. This is not being morbid, just realistic and wise.
We do not store up for ourselves wealth, for that melts away. We store up for
ourselves the knowledge of God and the awareness of his goodness that always
sustains us.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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