The Lean Years Tradition...

Being unemployed, even by choice, is discouraging. Watching money leave your account and not being replenished is like watching the water supply of a major city shrink during a drought with no rain in sight. The worries mount, not because of the lessening supply, but because the thought of not having anything is troubling.
Paul said he learned to be content in all circumstances. He was also very sure to point out that contentment does not equal comfort. He asked God three times to remove a thorn from his side. Now it is not important what the thorn was, but it is important to note that God denied Paul’s request and yet Paul was not discouraged, he was content!
Paul recognized that the God had a supreme plan for him that incidentally included many trials and tribulations, but in the end produced immeasurable fruit. This is the ultimate understanding of life; to know that regardless of circumstance that God’s plan is in action and His purposes will be fulfilled. This understanding is true meekness.
Joseph had extraordinary dreams, was favored above his brothers, and given special privileges and because of this his brothers despised him. One day they decided to kill him, but were persuaded by their eldest brother to sell him into slavery instead. Here were opposing sides; the brothers who never wanted to see their brother again and the brother who wanted to see his family again regardless of the wrong they had done him.
Joseph spent years thinking not about how to get back at his brothers, but how he could succeed in the positions God placed him in. He was favored in Potiphar’s house and then wrongly accused of rape. He was then sent to prison and became assistant to the jailer. By empirical evidence, we gather that he held fast to the dreams he had as a small boy.
Because of this dedication to the dream and his reliance on Yahweh, he was eventually put into the position of assistant to Pharaoh. It was at this point that Joseph encountered another man’s dreams. They were dreams that relayed a future of plenty followed by seven years of famine. It was through God given interpretation that Joseph was able to plan for the lean years.
Just like Joseph, we must learn how to bring the resources of our kingdom into storehouses for the lean years. This has far reaching implications in the modern Christian life. We must fill two storehouses; our tithes must go to God’s storehouse and we must save extra so that we are prepared for everything God has in store for us.
If we do not put money into God’s storehouse we neglect the church and show the world that we are universally poor stewards and if we do not save, we are show the world that we are individually poor stewards. The universal church and the individual believer must be the first place of economic recovery and welfare during hard times. Remember the passage that says, Jehovah Jirah, He provides all my needs according to His riches and glories. If God is the owner of cattle on a thousand hills and we take to heart the parable of the talents, we will begin to look at our economy in a different light.
Our economy is built on the belief that God is our provider and that through us, the spiritual children of Abraham, we will bless the world both spiritually and practically. And so in this economic theory we do not serve a class or landowners, but our authority is God and our Savior Jesus Christ to whom all authority has been given in heaven and in earth. It is by this we can know that true economic freedom can only come from a true following of Christ for it is written, “He whom the Son sets free, is free indeed.”