In Whom Do You Trust?

I was so excited when I finally moved into my own place. Here I was ready to be on my own. I had a well paying job that allowed me to go on vacations with my friends and it allowed me to treat myself to some new clothes and other things quite often. I was enjoying life, but then life happened. Bills started coming and unexpected things happened, leaving me scrambling to come up with the resources to pay for what needed to be paid for. Before I knew it, I had taken out credit cards and was in way over my head in debt. In less than three years, I had lost my financial freedom. A little after that, I lost my job, the source of my financial input. I had so heavily relied on my finances, and my job and there I was left in the dust, clutching bills, debt and a box of tissues, tears streaming down my befuddled face. What went wrong? I’ll tell you what I suspect went wrong. I trusted more in my “wealth” and my job than I did in the God who provided it all for me, and I took it all for granted. I took HIM for granted. All that mattered to me was my paycheck. That’s what made me feel valuable, the number typed in the little box on the check that told me what I had earned. I worked hard to get what I earned, there’s no doubt about that, and I got what I earned. As hard as it really is to admit, at that time in my life, money was the god I served. It was more important to me than the God who had given me life and breath and who valued me just because he created me and who loved me. You see, I wasn’t really aware that HE loved me. I never took the time to learn about him and to see what he was all about because I was so consumed with my temporary wealth. That’s just it. Everything on this earth is temporary. Wealth. Status. Money. Power. Fame. We all want some aspect of it, but one day it will all fade away and only one thing will remain and that is God. He is forever. He remains the same. When everything around us changes, God is still the same God who is there to pick us up and hold our hands as we walk through this fickle life. This is the whole point the psalmist was trying to make in Psalm 49. Those who trust in the temporary things of this world are foolish and are bound to fall, but those who trust in God will never fall because God holds them with his righteous right hand.

“Why should I fear when trouble comes when enemies surround me? They trust in their wealth and boast of great riches. Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God. Redemption does not come so easily for no one can ever pay enough to live forever and never see the grave… But as for me God will redeem my life, he will snatch me from the power of the grave. (Psalm 49:5-9, 15)