Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Why do you seek from man what only God can give? You say you trust Him, yet your anxiety betrays you running to others, demanding from poor mortals what your heavenly Debtor alone owes. Do you not see His unspeakable treasures? Is He unwilling to pay? If He sees you requiring another to satisfy what He Himself has pledged, He is justly displeased. You have lent your faith to One; why do you hasten past Him to knock at the doors of men? Demand your debt directly from Him who is pleased when you do so.
You speak of your husband not working. Remember what is written: "If any man will not work, neither let him eat." This is not cruelty but medicine, urging the idle into useful employment. Yet the same voice also says, "You, for your part, be not weary in well doing." The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is of the Church, and this headship is for the saving health of the body. His duty is authority and forethought; hers is a willing submission as unto God. Both must labor in their proper place. Make provision for the flesh, yes, but only for health and necessity, not to fulfill its lusts. A little care for the body is ordained, but a life spent chasing beyond necessaries is a fevered dream from which we must wake.
You plead for a financial breakthrough. I ask you: what is the state of your house? Not the walls, but the souls within it. For it is not possible, truly, it is not, that a house established by almsgiving should suffer final calamity. What hedge did the devil see around Job? It was built by Job’s own hands: "I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame; a father to the orphans." He did not wait for his breakthrough before showing mercy. Do you seek a miracle while your heart is clenched tight? Break off your own bread for the hungry. Let your house be a refuge, and that act will be a spear and shield stronger than any bank note. If affliction comes, as it did to Job, it becomes the raw material for a double portion of blessing, both in this life and the next.
Yet let no one imagine that prayer alone is a charm. Prayers availed for righteous Hezekiah, but wickedness prevailed in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. Even if Samuel and Moses stood to intercede, they could not deliver a people sold to sin. Therefore, do not merely cry out for a paying job; examine the work of your own hands and hearts. Let every man prove his own work. Is your trust in God a living faith that works through love, or a desperate wish that leaves your character unchanged? The present anxiety is a sleep, and these debts are like troubling dreams. Awake to the reality of your Debtor, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and place your true industry in the care of spiritual things. Then, whether in plenty or in want, you will find Him faithful to pay what He owes.
You speak of your husband not working. Remember what is written: "If any man will not work, neither let him eat." This is not cruelty but medicine, urging the idle into useful employment. Yet the same voice also says, "You, for your part, be not weary in well doing." The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is of the Church, and this headship is for the saving health of the body. His duty is authority and forethought; hers is a willing submission as unto God. Both must labor in their proper place. Make provision for the flesh, yes, but only for health and necessity, not to fulfill its lusts. A little care for the body is ordained, but a life spent chasing beyond necessaries is a fevered dream from which we must wake.
You plead for a financial breakthrough. I ask you: what is the state of your house? Not the walls, but the souls within it. For it is not possible, truly, it is not, that a house established by almsgiving should suffer final calamity. What hedge did the devil see around Job? It was built by Job’s own hands: "I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame; a father to the orphans." He did not wait for his breakthrough before showing mercy. Do you seek a miracle while your heart is clenched tight? Break off your own bread for the hungry. Let your house be a refuge, and that act will be a spear and shield stronger than any bank note. If affliction comes, as it did to Job, it becomes the raw material for a double portion of blessing, both in this life and the next.
Yet let no one imagine that prayer alone is a charm. Prayers availed for righteous Hezekiah, but wickedness prevailed in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. Even if Samuel and Moses stood to intercede, they could not deliver a people sold to sin. Therefore, do not merely cry out for a paying job; examine the work of your own hands and hearts. Let every man prove his own work. Is your trust in God a living faith that works through love, or a desperate wish that leaves your character unchanged? The present anxiety is a sleep, and these debts are like troubling dreams. Awake to the reality of your Debtor, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and place your true industry in the care of spiritual things. Then, whether in plenty or in want, you will find Him faithful to pay what He owes.
