It has begun in earnest . . . be afraid be very afraid!

Have you noticed (how could you not) how every message we are getting about the economy is bad? Have you noticed all the comparisons to the Great Depression? Now I haven’t lived all that long, but my parents lived through the Great Depression, and I am confident saying that this season we are in is nowhere near as severe as the Great Depression.

Still, things are getting tight and some are already feeling the pinch. Now how should a preacher approach a situation like this? Clearly we must look to the Word of God. However, what if there is a passage to do with hard times that seemingly makes no sense at all?

In I Kings 17, we read the story of the widow at Zarephath. Elijah is sent to a widow who, by her own admission, was just about to eke out one more meal before she and her only son would starve. Elijah says to her, "first make a cake of bread for me, then make something for yourself and your son."

Remember that being a widow in those days was extremely perilous. That she had only one son made it even more ludicrous for her to even consider risking his life to feed some prophet. But Elijah had a Word . . ..

For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry, until the day the Lord gives rain on the land." (I Kings 17:14)

I remember the instance in the New Testament when the disciples were told to start passing out a handful of fish, a little boy’s lunch, to feed thousands. I remember the servants at the wedding in Cana. "Do whatever He tells you to do." They did and the water miraculously turned into wine.

In each of the instances I just cited, in the natural it made no sense to expect that these needs would be met, based on what they had. That’s the whole point. It is not about what WE have. It is all about what HE has and what He wants us to do with HIS money, HIS time HIS stuff.

A down economy? Not in Heaven.