Worship in the Times of Plenty

I'm no economist, but anyone not living on a remote island knows that these are hard times financially for more people than average. And I do know enough history to be convinced that one cause of economic downturns is the "get all you can while the getting's good" mentality that rises in times of prosperity.

While many people turn on God because their lives are miserable and He doesn't seem to be doing much about it, if anything we forget Him faster when we have little to complain about. When the Israelites first entered Canaan, God warned them that if they let their attention to the Law lapse, "...when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.... You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me'” (Dt. 8:12-14, 17). Which, of course, was exactly what happened.

Hard times or easy, we all have a tendency to slip into seeing God primarily as a means of getting what we want rather than as the One Who deserves all we have to give. Learning to truly worship is hard work.

But oh, how worth the effort when we are freed from slavery to our circumstances!

Worship in the times of plenty:
Though you seem to have it all,
Don't forget: God gives the blessing,
Makes abundance rise and fall.

Worship in the times of hardship:
Though your blessings seem but few,
God still gives His glorious riches
Every day with mercies new.

Worship God in health and sickness;
Worship Him in peace and pain:
He is worthy of all praises;
Even loss, in Him, is gain.