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PROGRAM D-8091
I am a big baseball fan. I was raised with two brothers and a father who loved baseball, so it became our family sport, I guess. At any rate, I really love the game and it was great to be around when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016. After a one-hundred-year dry spell, it was about time!
However, I must admit that I have a hard time distinguishing one pitch from another. There are fast balls and screw balls, split-finger balls and knuckle balls, to mention just a few. But the one that seems to give the most trouble is the curve ball. It comes at you one way, then suddenly curves another way, making it very difficult to hit.
Whether or not you know anything about baseball, you know what a curve ball is in life. It’s that unexpected turn in the road that takes you where you don’t want to go. It’s that unwanted circumstance, person, or event that turns everything topsy-turvy, leaving you bewildered and discouraged.
What curve ball has life thrown at you recently? Maybe it was a financial curve ball. You were just making ends meet and paying your bills, when your car died on you. Now you’re faced with a huge unexpected expense with no way to pay it. Perhaps you had a good job with a good organization, when one day you heard those dreaded words, “We have to lay you off.” Or, maybe you just learned that the value of your home is now less than the amount you owe on it! These are all financial curve balls, for sure.
David wrote, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3) What are we to do when it feels like our financial foundations are being destroyed? Do we really believe Philippians 4:19, which says, “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus”?
Money troubles test our faith more than most others, don’t they? If you’re in the midst of a financial curve ball right now, I want to encourage you to let it deepen your trust in God’s provision for you. Every day repeat this verse from Philippians 4, and declare that, by faith, you believe God will meet all your needs. Turn that curve ball into a home run!