Sentinel Watch July 25, 2011 Issue

Prayer about unemployment: from millions, to one

Margaret Campbell

A recent article in The New York Times included these words: “With more than 13 million people still out of work, analysts cautioned that it was too early to say whether the momentum could be sustained for a full recovery in the [American] labor market” (May 6, 2011). And a survey printed in The Journal of Commerce of more than 1,000 economists in 120 countries suggested that worldwide economic recovery “could be hurt by public deficits, inflation, and unemployment in the months ahead” (May 18, 2011).

Economic troubles around the world continue to affect millions of people—and the more overwhelming the statistics and predictions, the more hopeless the situation can seem.

Through prayer, however, an atmosphere of discouragement can yield to the expectation and implementation of solutions. Prayer includes the spiritual understanding of each individual’s relationship with God. The very first chapter in the Bible assures us that God created the “male and female . . . .  And God blessed them” (Gen. 1:27, 28). God did not create an anonymous sea of millions of people. He created individuals, man and woman infinitely blessed, valued, and cared for. Everyone is so loved, so individually known to God as His son or daughter, that the Bible portrays Him as saying, “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou are mine” (Isa. 43:1).