Homes for Hard Times

 

 

We are in a crisis in our nation — spiritual, political, social, financial, and even in the way people view “healthcare” since Covid. Something is going to come to a head in our nation and we will all be affected. It appears that the majority of us are helpless to do anything to stop this wreck. So, what can we do in preparation?

Wondering what the biblical response should be leads to Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah was being told to give instructions to those who had been judged and were exiled to Babylon. God said (through Jeremiah), “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease” (Jeremiah 29:4-6).

Unlike that advice, our instinct (today) seems to be more one of stopping everything out of fear. We don’t build or move or have babies because of the “what ifs” of the future. But, the LORD clearly told the Israelites exiled in Babylon not to quit having families and even laid out that it would be over a couple of generations. Families were to continue to build houses, live in them, and multiply.

His instructions to build houses and “live in them” stands out. “Live in them” implies all of what God expects from a family; loving our husbands and children (if we have them), educating the children, marriages, hospitality, home-making, and helping the poor in our midst. This is all a form of taking dominion in the circumstances in which they found themselves – the ones in which we may be found soon.

Israel was exiled for disobedience to God. Surely, we can conclude that whatever comes to the USA is coming through God’s judgment – or His mercy should He relent and allow us peace.

How will we continue to live? Will it be with fear and disobedience to God? He never changes and His law does not change because our circumstances get more difficult. As women; single, married, widowed, or divorced, we can be instrumental in the way others see and respond to hardship.

Ladies, we set the tone of our homes. We are to be “home-makers” (Titus 2:3-5). In difficult times, home should be a place we “live in” where there is peace, orderliness, and even joy in the afflictions of life. Are we setting that tone? Are we, like the virtuous Proverbs 31woman, preparing ourselves and our home for harder times?

Can we make our homes a refuge for our families? A place of hospitality, especially for the people of God who are working to bring His Name before the world, who are called to confront those who are perpetrating the problems (or prolonging them)?

We have practical things to think about in order to be ready for whatever may come but we also have instructions for making our homes a refuge. Look at all of Colossians 3 but consider especially Colossians 3:5, 8. Colossians 3:5 says, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” And,  3:8 says, “But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

We are not left with just what to “put off” but are told how to live so that (in this case) our homes are more pleasant to come home to as the elect of God: “Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:12b-14).

Paul, in this letter calls believers in Jesus Christ, “holy and beloved.” Is that how our families see us? Or, do we have something to “put to death” and something to “put on?”

Purposely building a home, and encouraging the rest of our family to join us, that will be a place of refuge and refreshment when the world is going crazy, may be one of the most beneficial things we can do for those we love and the nation we want.

Strong Christians, with strong faith, living in strong families, are the building blocks for the Kingdom of God.