Since the U.S. economy started its sharp slide last fall, I’ve done a lot of thinking about what this all means to me, to my family, and to our nation and world.  While watching this downturn, my thoughts have gone from, “This is interesting” to “This is perplexing.”  If it keeps falling, the prevailing emotions could inch nearer to frightening.

For now, the word perplexing accurately describes my vantage point.  My family has been affected in several ways.  My husband, Dennis, is working harder than ever at FamilyLife, putting in 50-hour weeks trying to find ways to cut expenses and increase revenue. I just talked to one of our sons who said they are living hand to mouth, barely making ends meet. And I know it’s true. Their pantry was bare when we visited last month. Another son and our son-in-law are both doing the same, working harder than ever trying to keep their families fed and their payments made. 

These are not “business as usual” days. What our country is experiencing clearly isn’t a brief downturn where things will return to normal in a few months.

What complicates it even further is that the American economy is a global issue. This leads to the question, What is God up to? 

While I do not have the answer, I think it’s good that we ask questions like this. We who claim to belong to God must be measuring our experience against the truth. We know that God is not passive. He is not sitting idly by just watching. That is not His character. Instead, God is intricately and intimately involved in the rise and fall of nations and in the comings and goings of all people. 

Yesterday in my Bible study class I heard a verse that I do not think I’ve ever noticed before. It was as if lights flashed around it, dramatically grabbing my attention. This one short phrase fits this season of our American life perfectly: “And He will be the stability of your times” (Isaiah 33:6).

That’s the bottom line. No matter what God is up to in the world today, no matter what course the current economic crisis takes, no matter what the political leaders in Washington do, God is the stability of our times.

It reminds me of the first line of an old hymn: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” Our hope cannot be in money, a job, our house, our friends or family, and certainly our hope cannot be in Washington, D.C. All of those will disappoint.

Our hope must be in Christ alone for only there will we find true stability as individuals, in our marriages and in our families. In Christ alone, and in the power of His Word, we can find the strength we need to face the challenges of today. 

I remain perplexed at our current state. And at the same time I am cautiously optimistic and even hesitantly excited at what God might be doing. Could this be part of the end times? It’s possible. Will our businesses and families be better for this pruning and winnowing work of God? If we cooperate with Him in this there is no question we will be better for having been pruned. 

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8 that he was “perplexed, but not despairing” when he was in the midst of trials and troubles. I have found great comfort in recent seasons of suffering in that short phrase. It is okay to be confused, baffled, and even mystified at the circumstances of my life. I can be perplexed and still be found having faith. Only when I move to despair, which means hopelessness, am I not living in faith.

We cannot know what tomorrow will bring but we know the One who will bring it. And that alone can keep us from despair as He brings stability to our times.