Money Life: Understanding God's View of MoneySample

Our Hope - Part 2

Regardless of your personal financial goals or needs, handling money wisely requires perseverance.

Joseph was no stranger to perseverance. He held onto hope in the Lord during the most trying of circumstances. Even though his struggles were not personal financial challenges, the lessons we can learn from his life are invaluable. 

We talk about having dreams for our future, but Joseph had literal dreams about his! In each, the message was the same; someday, Joseph would be in a position of great authority—so much authority that his father and brothers would come and bow down to him.

In the years that followed, he was sold as a slave and sent to Egypt, falsely accused of attempted abuse and spent a significant amount of time in prison. These setbacks are enough to make just about anyone give up hope, but Joseph endured, placing his total confidence in God.

Put yourself in Joseph’s shoes—or sandals, as it were. Imagine sitting in prison, marking off one day after another, wondering when your time there would end. Think about the doubts that would go through your mind as days turned into weeks and then months and then years. It would take a strong faith to believe God’s promises when all of your physical senses suggest otherwise.

Financial troubles can feel just like this - a prison.

Joseph didn’t let bitterness take over. He kept his eyes firmly on the God he’d known since childhood, and his faith remained unshaken (see Genesis 41:16).

While Joseph kept himself from anger and bitterness, it’s safe to assume that he struggled with discouragement and emotional exhaustion from time to time. This happens to the strongest of us. It’s what we do with our anxieties and our sadness that counts.

Be encouraged! God is the great Provider. He does not give us more than we can bear, and He promises never to leave us or forsake us. Jesus told His disciples not to let anxiety gain a foothold, because such worry eats away at our trust in God.

Think about that: Our God is so big and so gracious that He can even use our sin and rebellion to bring about good! No matter our financial situation or the mistakes we’ve made in the past, God is able to turn things around.

Our hope doesn’t depend on the state of our nation’s economy or on a quick fix to our financial pain, and it certainly doesn’t lie in ourselves. Our hope rests in our great God!