"God Will Take Care Of Me!"
One lady, who was obviously not a student, indicated in the question and answer session that she was absolutely enraged by my talk. "You don't believe in the sovereignty of God," she informed me, "You act as though God won't take care of us in every instance, giving us precisely what we need. You won't admit the truth of the Bible that God will take care of us."
I have heard similar statements from Christians ever since, though not stated so boldly, and not linked to my supposed lack of belief in the sovereignty of God. The lady was a big mouth, and I suspect that when her food runs out, she will be a big mouth at her neighbor's, or try to be. But that's neither here nor there. The idea that no preparation is necessary now, that Christians should not be sacrificing some consumption now in order to provide for themselves in the future, is altogether too common.
What these people really mean is this: You will provide for me. They are saying to the one who stores up food and necessities, "You have a moral obligation to support the poor in times of scarcity, and I may then be poor. You will have a moral obligation to take care of me, since you are God's steward. I will spend my money on nice cars, decent housing in the city, and all the other things that delight my eyes today, and if the crisis comes. I will come to you, and God says you will have to support me." When a crisis hits, they will remember those who spoke to them about making sacrifices in the present for the sake of survival in the future, and they will present themselves at the front door, demanding support.
These people would have challenged Joseph in Egypt, had they been given the opportunity. "Look here, Joseph, you're cutting into my income. You're having the Pharaoh take 20% of my production and storing it up for your hypothetical crisis. Don't you believe in the sovereignty of God? Don't you know that God will take care of His people? You just don't want to live by faith."
The story of Joseph is significant. The famine which hit the world drew people of many nations to Egypt. They came to buy food. Joseph's brothers were compelled to make the journey into Egypt -- arrogant men who had sold their brother into slavery and then lied to their father about him, bringing great grief to the old man, Now they were forced to come to their brother for their lives, though they did not know who he was in the beginning. The whole family finally came to Egypt, and it led directly to their eventual enslavement, when a Pharaoh arose who did not remember Joseph. "God will take care of us," they may have thought as they were sending Joseph into slavery. "God always takes care of His people." They may have thought when they neglected to store up grain in the good years preceding the famine. And God took care of them. too, but at a cost far higher than they thought their descendants would have to pay.
God took care of the remnant in the days of captivity for Judah. Jeremiah was taken care of as he wrote Lamentations. As the Babylonians smashed the dreams of Judah's inhabitants, those who survived the war were taken care of. They lived. However, they went into slavery, and most of those who did never returned. Some of those who did return shed great tears when they saw the post-exilic temple's foundation, for it was pathetic in comparison with the one Solomon had built (Ezra 3: 12). God had taken care of them, but not in the life style to which they had become accustomed and believed they deserved.
Those who constantly are singing the "God will take care of me" refrain cling to an image of God which is not unlike that of an insurance claims adjuster. Every possible disaster is supposed to be covered. But most important, the disaster coverage is purchased with the cheapest sort of premiums, such as faithful attendance once a week to a church meeting. Their cosmic insurance policy is non-cancellable, in force twenty-four hours a day, and does not require escalating premiums to cover great increases in risk. Their theology is "once saved, always saved" -- with or without the personal fruits indicating salvation -- and their personal planning philosophy is similar: "once insured, always insured." Their policy cannot lapse.
This is a total misunderstanding of the biblical concept of God's care for His people. When Joshua attempted to take the city of Ai the first time, 36 men died. They died for two reasons. First, Achan had sinned. and God had put the nation under a temporary curse (Jos. 7). Second, their deaths lured the men of Ai into a trap in the second military engagement (Jos. 8). What are we to say, that the 36 men were not true believers? That they were not being cared for? That God had temporarily forgotten His promise? That their "insurance policies" had lapsed?
What we have to conclude is this: God does not offer us any guarantee that our earthly lives will in every case be preserved. God does not say that my life is so crucial to His plan that I cannot lose it until I reach my threescore and ten years. What He says is that a man's real needs, namely, his spiritual needs. will never be unfilled (Rom. 8:35-39). Men have forgotten the words of Paul: "For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter" (Rom. 8:36). Paul is citing Psalm 44:22. If we are talking about an eternal life insurance policy, we have one if, in fact, one has ever really been issued; there is no such thing as a "permanent income" policy.
This leads us back to the original question. Will God always preserve all of His people's earthly circumstances? Obviously not; in fact, the message of the prophets to the godly remnant denied specifically that they would escape the general judgment God would bring on that society. It was not the godly remnant that remained in Judah during the Babylonian captivity; rather, it was the poorest segment of society, those who had nothing, who were allowed to remain (Jer. 39:10). The godly went into captivity with the rest of the nation.
The trite phrase, "God will take care of all my needs," is trite only because the users of the phrase have a trite theology. The concept is correct; the definition of "needs," however, is radically different from what the conventional users of the phrase have in mind. Their idea of needs is warm clothing, nourishing meals, a nice home in the suburbs, 7% mortgage money, and a new car every three years. They think God is going to guarantee them all these things simply because they have made some kind of profession of faith.
The Bible says, "The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in summer" (Pr. 30:25). The idea is that they plan, and survive because of their planning. They take care to provide for their needs in advance. They are commended for their wisdom in a very practical book in the Bible, the Proverbs. But this example is not one which is emphasized by fundamentalist and orthodox churches today. The Mormons recognize it, and some of the Seventh-Day Adventists see its importance, but not the average Christian family head. God will not allow his insurance policy to lapse. Don't come to him and talk about personal responsibility before God to store up supplies of needed food. equipment. and gold. After all, just because Abram was rich in cattle, gold, and silver doesn't mean he should invest likewise (Gen. 13:2). God will take care of him.
Power flows to those who are willing and able to take responsibility. Power flows to those who have taken the proper steps beforehand to deal with the problems that follow. Is there any question which denomination is going to draw new people, should a food crisis hit this country? Is there any doubt which church will be able to point to its program of stored food, church farms, and no government welfare -- with the government's worthless checks and worthless money -- and say, "We are the true Christians, for we have taken care of our own"? I can tell you one thing, it won't be the Southern Baptists. And I can tell you another thing, it won't be the Presbyterians. The public will not be looking to Nashville or Grand Rapids for leadership; the public will be looking toward Salt Lake City.
If we are to take care of our own church members, we must see to it that those who can afford to store up provisions now do so, in order that there will be extra supplies available for charity later on for those who did not see the crisis coming, or who were too poor to do anything about it. We must take care of ourselves if we are to take care of others.
The Mormons have taken the leadership position in the stored food industry. We ought to make good use of their labor in developing the industry. We will pay them a profit for the privilege, but that is the nature of all entrepreneurship: he who sees a future need and meets it will reap profits. I strongly recommend that people contact the following company for information regarding the family food storage program:
Martins Distributing Co.
P. O. Box 51
Moraga, CA 94556
(800) 227-1343 (toll-free. USA)
(415) 376-7065 (collect. Calif.)
A one-year's supply of food for each family member, plus extra food for charitable giving and barter, is strongly advised. The company sells a $25 sample packet. Assume that it will cost at least $800 per family member to make the purchase.
If you think your city will be unsafe, and that your food will simply be looted, then the intelligent thing to do is to move, not neglect your food storage program.
God allows the Gulag Archipelago. There are Christians inside its confines. To imagine that God provides fat American Christians an insurance policy against all disasters, thereby eliminating the need for economic planning, is the same mistake made by Israel and Judah. The Temple's presence did not protect them from captivity. Our debt-encumbered church buildings will not protect us.
Biblical Economics Today Vol. 1, No. 6 (December/January, 1978-1979)
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