The Distraction of Lack

This world’s system is based on lack. The devil designed it that way. For example, because people have bills to pay, they must go to work to earn money to pay those bills. Because of certain shortages, costs are higher. It is a lack-based system. And the reason is because it keeps us chasing money so we don’t have time, or don’t take the time, to chase God.

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. I Timothy 6:10 (New American Standard Bible, NASB)

The enemy is subtle. He doesn’t outright tell us to worship money. He uses circumstances to focus our attention on money. Bills, inflation, job loss, the breakdown of needed cars or appliances, the desire to replace old items with bright, shiny, new ones, the desire to stay current with fashion trends, etc. all draw our minds towards our bank balance and away from God. Because the devil bombards people repeatedly with various forms of lack, he is often successful in getting us to forsake time with the Lord in pursuit of making money.

My God will use his wonderful riches in Christ Jesus to give you everything you need. Philippians 4:19 (New Century Version, NCV)

There is a good way to overcome the devil’s attempts to distract us with lack, and it’s simple. We can take that lack, or perceived lack, to the Lord. Our God has promised over and over in His Word to meet every need we have. We can ask Him for what we need, standing on His Word in faith, then we can be free from the burden of lack and we can focus our attention on worshiping our Lord. And when we maintain a lifestyle of tithing, and giving, we’ll always have a harvest ready to come in at any time.

If an unexpected expense comes your way, don’t try to juggle your accounts to figure out where you’re going to get the money from or go out and take another job. First, go to God and ask for His provision and supply to meet the need. Listen to His direction. Occasionally, He may tell you to get another job for a short time or to cut down on certain things to save money, but so much of the time, that is not the case. God has such an unlimited supply, He can get us what we need in a multitude of ways that we haven’t even considered. And that leaves us free to spend time with Him instead of thinking on what we need.

If we always remember that God’s economy has no shortages, but instead deals in abundance and overflow, we’ll never be distracted by lack again. As we use that time to get in God’s presence, we’ll find that the enemy’s ability to create lack in our lives is lessened and lessened, until it is gone.