Bad Economy, Good God by Meiyi Li
Times of financial hardship are here. You don’t need to be a financial expert to know that. There is not one aspect of my daily life where I don’t feel the impact of a global economic meltdown, inflation, and surging costs of food, rent, and basic everyday items. Job security has never looked more uncertain, and as a small business owner, I worried about losing clients and not gaining new ones. Even my spiritual life felt weighed down by financial woes. My prayers were as if God was an unyielding Judge, and I kept wondering if He’d withhold provision if I didn’t show myself to be diligent enough in my work or in my Bible reading. I felt like I had to prove to God that I was a reliable, dependable Christian so that He would trust me with material and financial provisions - until I was out on a run one day, and Matthew 6 came to my mind afresh.
That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to Him than they are?
Matthew 6:25-26 NLT
As random as it was, my first thought was - I wonder how many birds are there in this world? If I knew how God feeds every single bird in the world, then maybe I could know how God provides for me. Maybe I was worried about my everyday life because I didn’t know how God feeds the birds. I whipped my phone out, did a quick Google search, and found out that the entire bird population in the world today estimates to be 50 to 430 billion. 430 billion? I was intrigued. How does God see to it that every bird is fed? These statistics were too far-flung for me and my human mind. I looked up from my phone and found the answer right in front of me. I was surrounded by trees, flowers, greenery, and foliage of different kinds and sizes. It’s an entire ecosystem! God uses entire ecosystems to feed His birds, and every ecosystem doesn’t just contain trees, plants, seeds, insects, and fruits, but also diversities of species and sizes - for all 50 to 430 billion birds!
My heart staggered at the massive scale of God’s generosity and I thought back to the verse - They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. These birds don’t work for their food and shelter the way we humans do. They don’t sow, store, or harvest, but God feeds them without fail every single day. He is their only Source and Provider.
But I, on the other hand, had mistakenly believed that my job, savings, and investments were my provider.
I was pulling long hours at work, doing a lot more than usual, and getting sleep-deprived because I believed it was up to me to make sure I was financially taken care of. But now I see it - I am not being taken care of by my clients or my bank account, any more than the birds are being fed by their sowing or storing. It is God who feeds them, and me.
And aren’t you far more valuable to Him than they are? As I made my way back home from my run, these words of Jesus made their way into my heart. To these birds, God is Creator God. But to you, God is a Father. You are not like His creation of living things and animals. You are His own child and family bought at the price of Jesus’ blood. The Creator God who supplies food and shelter to His creation with an open and bounteous hand is your Heavenly Father who treasures you immeasurably more than the 50 or 430 billion birds. Provision can come through your job, but your job isn’t your provider. God is. Even if the economy is bad, God is a good Heavenly Father.
Meiyi Li worships and serves in a local church in Singapore. You can find her on https://www.instagram.com/listofsupplementals/ where she reviews books and resources that help Christians bridge theology to practical living.