"god" Has Failed Us

Who will we turn to when our greed and deception has created a mortgage crisis that causes people to lose their touch of the American dream? Who will we call on when jobs are obliterated? When the very things we were so sure of fail us and leave us distraught? Who should we turn to when our “god” has failed us?

Contrary to belief, Americans are very religious. We worship many things. It has taken the recent mortgage crisis, the toppling of major banks and corporations, etc to realize that America prides itself in the worship of wealth, money, and greed along with much of the world. We have made money our “god.” And when our “god” has failed us, do we really use this time to stop and reflect and reevaluate our “values” and “beliefs” as a nation? Do we repent for investing our treasure on Earth rather in Heaven?

We have placed our faith in a god that has failed each and every one of us. I don’t think there hasn’t been one person who hasn’t been indirectly affected by this economic meltdown.

I personally lost my second job that I worked to reduce my debt, my company has suspended our holiday bonus and the payment of dividends to stock holders. The bank in which I have stored my hard earned cash with for the last decade has been sold off. The cost of food, gas, and the bear necessities has sky rocketed.

All because of people who decided not to act with integrity—both the consumers and the banks. All because our entire economic system is fueled by credit, people purchasing items either because they don’t have enough cash available to them or because they are simply living beyond their means. All because we worship Mammon.

I never understood why Jesus said that we either will serve God or we will serve Mammon. That scripture never made any sense to me until now. America, like many of the other nations has chosen to worship Mammon. Luke 16:13 says “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” America has despised God and have loved “god.”

Only in the last few months have I really known what that has meant. Even something as simple as me choosing to work versus study the Word on the weekends, choosing jobs based on income versus service, choosing to spend rather than tithe—all of those things link back to Mammon. And if I am not serving God in every aspect of my life, I am serving Mammon. Humans were created to worship. We have just decided to worship the wrong things.

This economic crisis also goes to show that you can spend your entire life working, investing, and saving, and still have nothing to show for it at the end of your lifetime plus there is no guarantee that you won’t lose it all due to forces beyond your control. The reason why Americans feel so desperate and in despair is because their god has wavered and faltered, because their faith in their god has failed, because their god isn’t everything they believed he was and because their god offers no assistance to them now. We are desperate because Washington has failed us. Corporations have failed us. Banks have failed us.

If our god has failed us where do we turn to? Where will our help come from? Will it come from bailouts? Will it come from hiding our funds under mattresses? Will it come from curtailing our spending habits? All of those may help the problem but will not solve the problem. The real problem is in our worship and our hearts. Our real problem is that we are yet to recognize that our help comes from the Lord (Ps. 121:2).

We have to refocus our faith. Our god is inscribed with the words In God We Trust. Do we truly believe that? Or should those words really be turned to In god We Trust? If we have already lost everything or if we are at the risk of losing anything, what more do we really have to lose by putting our trust in the God who not only claims to be faithful but proves it?

When we redirect our faith to God, then we should not worry about what happens to us, nor what happens in this economic crisis, because if we are putting our faith in God, we should also put our treasure in God: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Mt. 6:19-21).

And if our treasure is in God then whose report are we going to believe? Are we going to look at the screaming headlines? Are we going to shutter at the plunging markets? Are we going to sit afraid in a corner until the smoke clears, if it ever clears? Are we going to live our lives driven by fear? Don’t get me wrong, I am not by any means saying that we should go out and spend all of our money and pretend the problem doesn’t exist, but I am saying that fear should never direct our actions.

So in the midst of all of this turmoil and chaos, whose report are you going to believe? Are you going to believe the media, politicians, etc? Or are you going to believe the report of the Lord? (Num 13:25-33)