"I feel like I am in a hole with no light at the end of the tunnel. Everything is just too much. I feel like I'm under so much pressure. How do I get my monthly budget to work? It can wait until tomorrow."
Do these statements sound familiar? perhaps too familiar?
We are living in increasingly difficult times, politically, economically and spiritually. One of the obvious results is mounting financial pressure on each of us. This is particularly acute for those of us who fulfil the role of head of our particular households and, indeed, our businesses. I have found that we can draw a lot of inspiration and lessons from the life of Joseph, who became the executive premier of all the land of Egypt of old, second only to the president of that time, Pharaoh. Egypt was faced with looming economic difficulties and Joseph's brief from Pharaoh was quite simply to solve the problem. He was not given much more detail than that. These lessons, I firmly believe, will help us all in these challenging times. In the next series of articles I would like to focus on some of these. Although they may not all be strictly financial in nature, I believe that their application will have, as one result, a positive financial effect.
One of the basic tenets of Joseph's success was the bold and diplomatic application of Godly wisdom in his life. He seemed to display an ability that nobody else had. He was always prepared to provide a solution to seemingly complex problems or abstract dreams. In our lives we need to pause and allow God to help us make sense of our present conditions and then actively implement our attempts at a solution. Procrastination simply will not work. We need to energetically face all of our obstacles with a quiet confidence that we are actually in control of them. Take stock of who you are in the first place and how wonderfully you have been created.
Joseph was also consistently prepared to publicly explain his solutions. This implied that he had a solution in the first place and had sufficient clarity to articulate his understanding of the problem and his methodology to solve it. This is an important lesson because, too often, we can see our obstacles, such as worsening economic times, but we simply do not know how to react and therefore do not... to our peril. There is always a solution. We just need to find it!
Nowhere in the account of Joseph's life is there any suggestion of timidity. Let's face it, he was placed before some powerful people and yet he was prepared to speak his mind, albeit with diplomacy. This implies that under pressure situations, he was confident that he was correct. He knew, and was prepared to publicly admit, that his wisdom came directly from the throne-room of God and this was a fundamental building block of his personal success in his future.
