Out-of-Control is the New Normal

Last month, U.S. employers added only one-third the number of jobs needed, leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 8.2%. A normal unemployment rate is about 5 or 6%. It's beginning to look like 8.2% is the "new normal."

A downturn in prosperity is a change that is beyond our control. And nobody likes ‘out-of-control’ changes—they unhinge our plans and upset our ordered lives!  But let’s be honest.  Were it not for these divine challenges to our well-constructed lives, we would grow entirely independent of God. 

David said, “Because they have no changes, they fear not God” (Ps. 55:19): an apt description for our nation, so confident of success that fear of God is ridiculed. So to keep us from that, God shakes things up (Heb. 13:26). And our first reaction is usually frustration!  Thus, Isaiah says, "What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, 'Stop, you're doing it wrong'” (45:9).  Since we are living in a time of greater change than any time in human history, I think we will have to get used to these shake-ups. It looks like ‘out-of-our-control’ is the “new normal.”