Tough Stuff on Bankruptcy

This article by Ken Korkow really is well-put. I recommend his weekly emails (this is taken from last week's). They're called "e-Fax of Life" and you can get your own free subscription at http://efaxoflife.com/

He called. Marriage in shambles. Finances up-side-down. Ready to file bankruptcy.

"Before you file bankruptcy," I respond, "I'd like you to consider 3 questions: #1. What would Jesus do? #2. What would satan want you to do? #3. What are your motives? Think about these for several days and then call me."

Several days later he calls. "I've decided it would take 5 long years to get all our debts repaid and God doesn't want us to live in such pain so it's O.K. with Him if we file bankruptcy."

Ever thought of bankruptcy?

I have. I've been so broke that, as I've looked at the bankruptcy column in the newspaper - I've wondered when my name was going to be there.

As my friend shared his circumstances - my thoughts were - "Baloney! God doesn't care about your comfort. He cares about your obedience."

But I didn't tell him that - cuz it would shut him down / scare him off.

Instead - I asked: "Do you have a Bible handy?"

"Yes."

"Please open it up to Psalm 37." (Pause) "Now please read verses 16 and 17."

"Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous." (I've added emphasis on the words 'wicked'.)

"So it doesn't look very good for the 'wicked'." I comment. "Read verse 20 and you'll see that it gets worse."

He continues: "But the wicked will perish: Though the Lord's enemies are like the flowers of the field, they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke."

I continue, "Would you like to know who God says the 'wicked' are?"

"Yes." he says.

"Then please read verse 21."

"The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously;"

What will he do? I don't know. But I can tell you - one of my mentor / heroes took 14 years to pay off a debt illegally created because a major insurance company cheated him and simply said "Sue us. We can outlast you - so you will lose." His attorney and accountant both told him to file bankruptcy - but he said "No. I can't do that. God wants me to pay all my bills." And though he drove an old Plymouth Valiant for many, many years - and lived very frugally - I watched as the Lord worked in and through him to touch literally thousands of people.

His example - gave me hope and courage to keep taking just one more step of faith during my financial trials. Doing the best I could - when it didn't seem like it would ever be good enough. And Liz and I watched God do MIRACLES day by day.

I don't know what challenges you are or will be facing. But I do know God's standard is 'Uncompromising Righteousness'.

Oswald Chambers observes: "one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world. The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles' wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test."

Ken Korkow