Does Saving for Emergencies Mean We Don't Trust God?

Ralph Estep
00:00:00

Have you ever felt guilty about having money saved up? Like somehow you're not trusting God enough because you've got an emergency fund?

Well, today's question comes from a listener who's wrestling with this exact spiritual battle. They're wondering being financially prepared means they're lacking in faith.

I'm going to share my personal journey from financial struggles to success and how I finally found peace between saving wisely and trusting God completely. Today, I'm going to answer the question, does saving for emergencies mean we don't trust God?

Podcast Announcer
00:00:35

In a world where crushing debt keeps you trapped, where living paycheck to paycheck has become your new normal, and where the dream of retirement seems impossibly out of reach, there's hope. Join financial evangelist Ralph Estep Jr. A man who's walked through the fire of financial failure and emerged stronger on the other side.

Welcome to Ask Ralph, the show where real world experience meets biblical truth. To break the bondage of financial despair.

Get ready to take control of your money, break free from the financial stress and align your resources with God's purpose for your life. This is Ask Ralph with Ralph Estep Jr.

Ralph Estep
00:01:15

Well, thank you for joining me today. I am so glad you're here. As we continue our journey together, we're pursuing mastering our finances balanced with our faith.

Now, if you missed yesterday's show, it was a crucial topic on finding peace with God. And I laid some important spiritual foundations for today's discussion. So if you miss it, I'm going to encourage you to go check it out.

You can find all of our episodes at askralph.com. well, today's question comes from Michael, and I'm going to get right to it. He wrote this.

He said, dear Ralph, I'm writing with tears in my eyes tonight. Ever since my family went through that terrible season of nearly losing everything back in 2019, I've been obsessed with building our emergency fund.

We finally have six months of expenses saved up, but I can't shake this overwhelming guilt that's keeping me up at night. During last week's Bible study, we covered Matthew 6:26 about how God provides for the birds. And I broke down crying in front of everyone.

The thought that's torturing me is this. Am I showing God that I don't trust him by having this safety net?

Every time I look at our savings account, I feel this crushing weight of conviction. Have I replaced faith with fear? My wife says I'm being too hard on myself.

But I can't stop thinking about how Jesus sent out his disciples with Nothing but faith. I'm torn between wanting to be a good steward and feeling like I'm somehow failing God by planning for emergencies.

Please help me understand if I'm dishonoring God with my financial planning. Well, Michael, thank you for your question. And your question aligns perfectly with the mission of the show because I hear what you're saying.

You're lying awake at night, there's tears on your pillow, and you're wrestling with this question. And a lot of us have wrestled with this. I understand. This spiritual battle.

You're wrestling with this question of whether your savings account somehow means you're failing God. You've got this constant nagging feeling in your gut. You're wondering if every dollar you set aside is a dollar's worth of doubt.

Heard that said before. You're thinking out every dollar. Is it a dollar's worth of debt? A doubt in God's provision.

And you're asking a big financially, you know, spiritual mended question. And that is if being financially responsible somehow means you're spiritually irresponsible. And listen, Michael, I get it, dude.

You've experienced the terror of almost losing everything. And those memories of financial hardship, they're fresh, they're still raw. And they're influence every money decision you make today.

And then you're sitting in church or Bible study and you feel this overwhelming guilt because you're wondering if somehow you're less of a Christian because you're planning for emergencies instead of just walking purely by faith. And you're caught up in this tug of war between being a good steward of what God has given you and.

And showing complete, unwavering trust in his provision. And I bet, Michael, you feel like you can't win either way. Whatever you do, you just can't win.

And what I hear you asking your question, Michael, and it's what I'm going to address today is you want some practical biblical guidance on how you can honor God with your finances while still being responsible with the resources he's entrusted to you.

And Michael, the thing that I hear even deeper than that, you've got a deep desire to find harmony between your faith walk and your financial walk because you want to be both spiritually mature and financially wise. And there's great news, Michael. I've got some great answers for you today.

Now, if you like Michael, and you're looking to find answers to a question, the things I'm going to encourage you to do, if you go to askralph.com you can click on the search icon, I've got over 700 episodes now, got blog articles, videos. So if you've got a question, I would encourage you to start there because maybe I've addressed it.

Now I want to move into our Bible verse today because Michael, you addressed it. I'm going to use the Bible verse you talked about and that's Matthew 6:26 and it says this. Look at the birds of the air.

They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And I love this ending part. Are you not much more valuable than they? Let that verse sink in for a moment. Just, just think about it for a second.

Because you know what fascinates me about this verse? Because a lot of people would say, oh well, that's just a verse about faith. No it's not though.

It's deeper than that because Jesus isn't condemning planning here. He's addressing something so much deeper than that. He's addressing that anxiety that keeps you up at night worrying about money.

Michael, you understand where I'm going? And Jesus points to the birds. He's showing us something remarkable about God's character.

He's really telling us that God has this intimate care for every creature he's created. And here's the key point. If you don't hear anything else about this verse, think about this for a second.

If God takes such detailed care of birds, birds here, imagine how much more he cares about your financial well being. And let me just be personal with you.

When I was struggling financially, I found so much comfort in this verse because it really helped to break down the confusion. Just like you, Michael, I was working hard to make ends meet and I wondered if my efforts to save meant I wasn't trusting God enough.

But here's what I discovered is what I'm going to talk about in today's show those birds that Jesus talks about and think about this. This is profound. They don't just sit in their nests waiting for food to appear. They actively search. They gather and even store food for their young.

Because guess what? They're doing their part in trusting in God's provision. See, this verse isn't about choosing between trusting God and or being financial responsible.

It's about understanding that wise stewardship can be an expression of faith. And if you think about it, this verse offers hope that hope that you can be both spiritually mature and financially wise.

Because Michael, it's not an either or decision, it's not an either or situation.

And I'm going to explore today how this biblical truth applies to practical money management, because that's what we're all about here on the show, mastering finances from that Christian perspective while growing deeper in our faith. So before I get into it, I want to just state my gratitude statement for today.

I am grateful for today for how God's word provides such practical wisdom about managing our resources. It is amazing to me how the same God who promises to provide also gives us the wisdom to be good stewards of that provision.

Let me tell you about my own struggle with just what you're feeling, Michael. I've shared this on the show before, but today I really think it's so appropriate for what you're going through, Michael.

See, because growing up, I lived in this strange world between two financial extremes. My father was incredibly wealthy, the kind of success story people write about. But that wasn't my daily reality. See, I was with my mom.

She's a single parent doing everything she could to keep our little family afloat. And I remember this one Christmas, my sister and I were very young. We saw this commercial on TV for this amazing new toy. And I remember what it was.

I seem to think it was this little robot thing. And you put what was what?

We laugh about it now, but I think you put eight track tapes in this thing and you push buttons that did things and it would talk to you. And I remember my sister and I were up watching cartoons one Saturday morning. My mom was still sleeping a little bit.

And when she finally got up, we both went rushing up to her, jumping up and down on her bed and we said, mom, Mom, Mom. We. We just saw this incredible toy on tv. Do you think we can get it? Do you think we can get it?

And then I heard the familiar response that I had come to know so many times. My mom said, I don't have that kind of money. And see, those words? For me, that kind of money. I knew what she meant.

That always referred to my father's wealth. And that was a world that felt a million miles away from our modest home. See, because my mother worked hard, she pinched every penny.

While we knew our father lived a different universe of financial abundance.

When we would go there on the weekends, I mean, we would go out to dinner, drop a couple hundred dollars, we would take limousine rides, we would travel. There was just no ends to what he was able to afford. Contrast with my mom, where a trip to burger king or McDonald's was stepping out.

And I don't criticize my mother, but that was that contrast, that contrast between wealth and I'll call it Middle class, because my mother certainly wasn't poor. But it was. That contrast taught me something profound about money.

It taught me something profound about values, and it taught me something that's just absolutely profound about faith. You see, because my mom might not have had what she called that kind of money, but she had something far more valuable. You might ask, what is that?

Well, my mom had an unshakable faith and integrity that no amount of wealth could buy. She just had that. She had that unshakable faith and integrity. You can't go to the store and buy integrity. My mother had that.

So fast forward a couple years. I got older, I went through college, got into my new career.

And when I started finding success in my own career, all of a sudden I had this issue where those early lessons collided with my growing bank account.

I remember, you know, very distinctly, I'd sit in church and I'd hear messages about the dangers of wealth and how, you know, it was the path of all air, terribleness and all those kind of things. You've heard those things, Michael.

And this knot would form in my stomach, and I would think to myself, am I becoming what those sermons warned against man? That was hard. And I'd ask myself, you know, was my financial success pulling me away from God? And I'll tell you when the real struggle hit.

It was one day I was sitting looking at my bank statement, and I realized I was making more money than my mom ever had made. So picture here I was building wealth while remembering all those times she said, Ralph, I don't have that kind of money.

And let me just tell you, that guilt was overwhelming at times. But here's where God's wisdom transformed my perspective.

I started studying scripture, and I discovered that the issue wasn't about having or not having what my mom called that kind of money. It was truly about stewardship. See, the Bible is filled with examples of wealthy believers who use their resources for God's purpose.

Don't let anybody tell you that it's not. It is. And I found peace. I finally found peace when I realized that my financial success could be a tool for kingdom work.

And I look back to those early lessons from my mom about faith and those lessons about integrity and trust in God. And to be honest, I had to combine it with my father's example of business acumen. He was very successful.

And a lot of people would say, but aren't they conflicting lessons? No, they weren't conflicting lessons. Because when I look back at it, they were preparing me for my own unique journey of faithful stewardship.

So I've gotten to this point today that when I look at my financial success, I don't see it as something to be guilty about, far from it. I see it as a responsibility. It's a way to honor both my mother's faith and my father's business wisdom by using resources wisely to help others.

And that's why I'm so passionate about helping you find this same balance, Michael, because I've lived both sides of the story. I think it's very clear with what I just told you.

And see, this journey taught me that it's not about having or not having, like I said, that kind of money. It's really about what you do with whatever resources God has entrusted to you. And that's what he does. He entrusts them to you.

So whether you're counting pennies like my mom was, or managing wealth like my father, here's the key. The key is being a faithful steward of what you have.

Now, Michael, let me share how you can apply these powerful lessons to find your own balance, because that's what you really need to find. You can't be in either. You got to find that balance.

And the first thing I want to tell you, Michael, is recognize that living in different financial worlds isn't a disadvantage. It's preparation. That's what I came to know. Your struggle of almost losing Everything back in 2019 just shows you the different world you've been in.

But think about how important that was in the preparation for where you are now. So whether you're currently struggling or succeeding, each experience. And I can say this in my own life, Michael, and you will find the same thing.

Each experience shapes your understanding of money and faith. But, Michael, I want to go deeper than that. I want to give you five specific ways that you can find that balance. These are the takeaways for today.

First thing I want you to remember, embrace your story that is so vitally important. Just like my journey between my mother's modest means and my father's wealth, Michael, your story is uniquely preparing you for something greater.

Mike, I'm going to encourage you. Use those. Experience both those struggles and those. And now your successes. You can use those as teaching tools to help others.

You can be an example to others. You can be an example to your children. I just did a show the other day about how can we raise up kids with good financial skills.

So that's the first thing. Embrace your story. But, Michael, I'm going to challenge you to do the second thing.

And this is what really brought it around full circle for me, and that is ground yourself in scripture. When you're feeling news, feelings of guilt or confusion about wealth, when they rise up and they turn your stomach, they tie it up in knots.

I'm going to encourage you. Turn to biblical examples of faithful stewardship. Because remember, it's not about how much you have. That's not the contest.

It's not about how much you have. It's not how much in your bank account or how much you have in your investment portfolio or how many homes you listen. I've been there.

You learn that it's not about how much you have. It's about how you manage what God has entrusted to you. So, second step, ground yourself in scripture.

Third thing, you can't just think it's going to happen on its own. You got to implement what I call practical steps for balance. You might be saying, Ralph, how do I do that?

Well, Michael, here's what I encourage you to do. Start each financial decision with prayer, just like my mom did with her checkbook.

I remember many nights she'd be sitting at the dining room table and she'd have her bill set out in front of her. And, you know, this was back when people didn't have online banking. I know I sound like I'm from the Stone Ages, but we didn't have it back then.

And my mom would sit there and. And she would write out checks. And I could see just the. Just a tough time she was having with that. And I would see her pray about it.

And I knew that she felt that faith was being able to make things happen because she shared with me so many times. She would say. She would say, Ralph, look, I didn't think we would have enough, but God provided for me.

So, Michael, I'm going to encourage you to do the same thing. Set aside regular time for both financial planning and spiritual growth. You can do both of them. That's what this whole show is about.

It's bringing those two worlds together. And then I'm going to encourage you to create a giving plan that aligns with your values.

A lot of people don't go there, but I think it's so very important that you have that giving plan, but do it while maintaining responsible stewardship. So that's the third thing. Practical steps for balance number four is integrate faith and finance.

And it seems kind of redundant, but you can truly integrate these things. You don't have to compartmentalize your spiritual life and financial life.

You don't have to be spiritual with this in the financial, like you're hiding, and you put on this costume. They're meant to work together. And the way you can do that is if you look for opportunities to use your financial knowledge to serve others.

I would humbly say that's what I'm doing here with this show. And, Michael, I'm going to encourage you to do the same thing. And the last thing, and this is a part a lot of people don't think about.

You got a plan for continuous growth. You got to invest in both your financial education and your spiritual development.

See, because this is where that whole faith and finance comes into play. Maybe you seek mentorships from those who successfully balance faith and finances.

You know, if you're listening to this and this is the first time you've thought about this, you're not going to be able to do this on your own. Continue to listen to my show, find other people to mentor you. Because, Michael, remember this. Finding this balance isn't a destination.

There isn't some magical finish line. There just isn't. And if you're expecting that, you're going to be disappointed. It's a journey. It can be a very scary journey.

It can be a very fulfilling journey. You will have all kinds of emotions along that journey.

See, just as I learned valuable lessons from both my mother's faithful stewardship and my father's business success, you can use your unique experiences to create a balanced approach to faith and finances. See, the key is understanding that financial success and deep faith, they're not mutually exclusive, Michael.

They're both gifts to be used for God's purposes. So, Michael, let me speak directly to your heart for a moment, because, look, I know exactly where you are right now.

That feeling of being torn between financial success and faithful living. I've been there, those sleepless nights wondering if you're honoring God with your finances. Dude, I understand them deeply.

So here's what I want you to hear. I want you to hear this clearly. Today is your turning point. Not tomorrow, not next week, not when you have more money or when things settle down.

Today is your turning point.

You see, just like I had to reconcile the lessons from both of those worlds that I lived in, my wealthy father, my faithful single mother, you too can find the beautiful balance between financial success and deep faith. But it's not going to happen by accident. It just won't. It certainly won't happen if you keep waiting.

And I'm extending my hand to you right now because I've walked this path. I know the transformation that's possible when you combine sound financial principles with unwavering faith.

Because the answer isn't just about making more money. If it was, that would be so much easier. It's about aligning your finances with God's purpose for your life.

So, Michael, here's what I want you to do right now. Go to askralph.com and Schedule A consultation with me when you get there.

You'll see at the top of the screen, it'll say, book a call with Ralph and let's create a personalized plan for you that honors both your financial goals and your faith. I'm also going to encourage you to join me on Tuesday night for the live show.

You get to that by going to askralphpodcast.com/live because we tackle specific challenges that listeners are having together. And Michael, start implementing the practical steps we've discussed today.

Because small actions, and hear me on this, they lead to massive transformation. Because think about this. Remember this. God didn't give you those financial burdens to crush you. He didn't. He gave them to prepare you.

Just like he used my unique experiences between two financial worlds that a lot of people would have said, rough, I don't know how you did it. The Lord is preparing you for something greater. And see, if you think about it, the question isn't whether you should take action.

You know you should. It really comes down to whether you'll take action today. Because here's the truth.

Your financial freedom and faith journey are too important to to put off any longer. So do something today. Now, as I mentioned, the last week or two, every day when I publish the show, I also write a blog post.

Go a little deeper in there. I share some resources with you.

And I'm gonna remind you right now that you can get those blog post articles by going to askralphpodcast.com/blog again, that's askralphpodcast.com/blog and I'll put a link to the article in the show notes. Well, now we've reached that point of the show where I want to share three reflection questions that really get to the heart of today's discussion.

And that's about how to find that balance between faith and finances. So here's my first one. And I want you to really think on these. Think about your own financial story. It's like I shared my story. What lessons?

Just like I said, like my experience between my mother's modest means and my father's wealth. What lessons has God used to shape your understanding of money?

And the second part to that, just like I encouraged Michael to do, how might these experiences be preparing you for his purpose in your life? So think about the lessons and think about what those experiences are preparing for you as it relates to your purpose. So that's number one.

Second thing, when you consider your financial decisions, ask yourself this question. Are you operating from a place of faithful stewardship or are you operating from a place of fear? You need to know the answer to that.

Because how might viewing your finances through the lens of faith, generosity and purpose change your approach to money management? What if I told you that whatever decisions you make, you will not fail? How would you have an impact for the kingdom if I said that to you?

So that's number two. Are you operating from a place of faithful stewardship or fear? Because here's the truth.

If you're operating from a place of fear, you are going to struggle because you're not going to live out the Lord's purpose. The Lord does not want us to live in fear. That's why Matthew 6:26 makes so much sense, because he said, fear not. Basically, this is not.

This is not the biblical. This is Ralph's Bible saying, this us. He's saying, fear not. I got this for you. Just be a wise steward like the bird does. Go out and find the food.

Don't just sit in the nest and expect it to fall into your lap. That's the thing a lot of people don't get. It's not going to just fall into your lap.

And my third question today, my third reflection question is this. In what specific ways can you begin using your financial knowledge? Because maybe you're currently struggling or succeeding, I don't know which.

If you're listening right now, you could be in both these situations. Maybe you're not like Michael. Maybe you're still in that pit of despair and you're trying to figure out, dude, I don't even have a $10 to my name.

I'm not in that position where I have that emergency fund.

But no matter whether you're currently struggling or succeeding, you've got to figure out ways to begin to serve others in your community while staying true to your Christian values. You might say, Ralph, how do I do that? Well, keep listening to my show.

Go back and listen to other episodes because I have provided ways and the Lord will show you a way. Start with that prayerful question and see, here's the thing. These questions aren't just meant for quiet reflection. If it is, that's great. Do that.

But I encourage you to write down your answers and bring them to our Tuesday Night Live show again. You can get that at askralpodcast.com/live and let's explore them together.

Because remember, this true transformation will happen when we honestly examine our relationship with both our faith and our finances. Now, tomorrow's show is going to be all about tax identity theft.

So you don't want to forget and you don't want to miss tomorrow's show because I'm going to share some eye opening stories from my years and I've been doing this for a while, helping people protect themselves from fraudulent tax returns. Plus, here's the best part of this. I'm going to give you concrete, actionable steps to safeguard your finances.

At the same time staying true to your Christian principles. You don't want to miss these proven strategies that have helped countless others in our faith community protect what God has entrusted to them.

And it's tax time. So this is a great time to talk about those tax identity theft things that we can do. Remember this as I close today.

My passion is to help you achieve financial success.

I want to see you live out your dreams and I want to see you grow in your faith because I know together, working together, we can master your finances from a Christian perspective. So as always in this show, I'm going to encourage you today. There is hope for your situation.

Work to find that balance, work to honor what God has given you and work hard to improve your situation. So stay financially savvy out there and may God bless you abundantly.

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00:28:23

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