Retirement planning is one of the more complicated parts of modern life. Setting aside money for a far-distant future is difficult, when one doesn’t think that they’re making enough money to pay the bills today. Many families live from paycheck to paycheck, even without taking a portion of their income and investing it for their retirement. This makes retirement planning just one more thing that seems to belong only to the wealthy.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not trying to say this is sound wisdom. All I’m saying is that most people don’t make enough money that they think they can afford to save or invest for retirement, while also paying today’s bills. Even with both partners working, pretty much everything goes into making ends meet and meeting their family’s needs.
Even so, sound wisdom would normally indicate that we should put something aside for a rainy day, as well as for our own retirement. At least, that’s what the world teaches us. Social Security was never intended to be people’s only source of income during retirement; merely an addition to whatever other retirement they might have.
We Must Move by Faith
Regardless of what we do, we must do it by faith. The Bible tells us at least three times, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). These three times are capitalized in the NKJV of the Bible, indicating that they are quoting from the Old Testament. If we are God’s people, we must learn to live by faith. Why? Because otherwise we can’t please Him.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. – Hebrews 11:6
But just how does that apply to saving for retirement? Does it mean that we are to avoid any sort of investment at all, expecting God to provide for us? Are we to just wait until retirement age and then ask or even demand that God provide for us? Is that the Biblical example of faith? No, it’s not, at least, not if we look at the rest of that chapter in Hebrews. They used their faith to obey God, not to try and twist His arm to give them things.
Nevertheless, we will need faith in God to get through those retirement years, whether we save for them or not. People who save for retirement often find themselves living on a fixed income, even while inflation causes prices to rise. People who don’t save, are on an even worse fixed income, trusting in Social Security to meet their needs.
But God is not limited by any fixed income. His economy works outside of the world’s economy. While everyone else might be struggling, God can provide miraculously for His people. This could be in the form of extra money coming in, better prices than anyone else gets, or even multiplication of the resources that we have. Regardless of the means, we must trust in God in faith.
That doesn’t eliminate the need to do our part though. We are told, that “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Put another way, God expects us to do our part, while trusting in Him to do His.
Our part can be continuing to work or it can be living off of our retirement income, whether that be savings, investments, or a business that we own. In any of those cases, we’re living off of income that we have earned. The faith part comes in, when we expect God to do miraculous things with that income, in providing for our needs.
Even someone in the ministry is working to meet their needs. I have known many ministers and missionaries who continued working well into retirement years. They didn’t have much in the way of formal retirement savings, because of a life of ministry. But they continued to minister well past an age where others had retired, expecting God to continue providing for them… and He did.
Does God Say to Prepare or Not to Prepare?
There’s a parable which Jesus taught, which might be interpreted, or perhaps misinterpreted, as saying that we shouldn’t save for retirement.
The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?” 18 So he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” 20 But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” – Luke 12:16-20
While one might try and interpret this as having to do with retirement planning, there’s nothing in the parable which indicates that the rich man was at retirement age. Rather, it looks more like his choice to build bigger barns and take it easy were totally based on a windfall. Had he not had that windfall, he would most likely have prepared to plant the next year, ensuring a continuing source of income.
This man can be seen to have made many errors, but wanting to save what he had wasn’t one of them. The abundant harvest was his and he had every right to it. But before deciding to put up new barns, he should have asked why he had such an abundant harvest? Was it something he had done differently? Was it favorable weather? Or was it the blessing of God? If it wasn’t anything he did differently, then the real question is why did God give him such an abundant harvest?
While God can always bless whoever He chooses, there is generally a reason behind His blessings. In this particular story, that reason might have been to take care of the rich man’s family, as he was about to die. But if we leave that aside, God might have blessed him so that he could in turn be a blessing to others. Perhaps there was about to be a need in the community, which God was preparing him to meet. Perhaps next year will be a drought. Perhaps there were believers in the community who were praying for God’s provision, and God’s plan was to use this man to meet their needs.
All the way back in the book of Genesis, the great nation of Egypt was about to pass through a time of drought and hardship, to last seven years. In preparation for this, God was giving them seven years of plenty, so that they could store up the excess to prevent starvation during the drought. God informed Pharaoh of this through a dream and Joseph (one of Jacob/Israel’s sons) interpreted the dream, giving Pharaoh wisdom on what he should do to prepare.
Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. 2 Suddenly there came up out of the river, seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. 3 Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river. 4 And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. – Genesis 41:4-1
Pharaoh slept again and had another disturbing dream, much like the first, but involving heads of grain (Genesis 41:5-7). Both of these dreams puzzled and troubled him. Being Pharaoh, he sent for his wise men and magicians, seeking an interpretation; but none of them were able to interpret the dream. Once they had failed, Pharaoh’s butler remembered that Joseph, son of Jacob, who was in prison, had correctly interpreted a dream for him once and told Pharaoh about him. Joseph was sent to interpret the dreams.
Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace…” (Pharaoh recounted the dreams to Joseph) 25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do: 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads (of grain)2 are seven years; the dreams are one. And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads plighted by the east wind are seven years of famine… 29 Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; 30 but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. – Genesis 41:16, 25-26, 29-30
There was more that was said here, but I have attempted to shorten it for the sake of space. Perhaps the most important thing that I have left out is the wisdom that Joseph gave to Pharaoh, based on these dreams and what God was showing him. That wisdom resulted in Pharaoh appointing Joseph to the position of Prime Minister of all of Egypt, to manage the land and the produce, so that the people would survive through the famine.
When we compare this story to the parable of the rich man building himself bigger barns, so that he could relax and take it easy, we see polar extremes. While we have no idea why God chose to bless that man, we see what a responsible leader did, when God blessed him and his nation. Considering that the rich man was a Jew, shouldn’t he have done at least as well?
The Relevance of this Story
While it might be easy for us, as New Testament believers, to put more credence in the parable of the rich man, than the story of Pharaoh, we would be wrong to do so. Jesus recounted that parable to bring to light the foolishness of someone who makes their decisions based on material wealth, rather than spiritual riches. He even says so Himself, in the verses following the parable.
So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God. 22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing… 31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. – Luke 12:21-23, 31
What’s the lesson here? It’s that our focus should not be on material riches or meeting our material needs; but rather, on serving God and growing closer to Him. That doesn’t mean that we should ignore our physical needs, because we must take the wisdom of this passage and add it to the wisdom and instruction of the rest of the Bible. That includes the admonition we read from Second Thessalonians about those who don’t work, don’t get to eat.
On the other hand, we can look at the story of Pharaoh’s dream and God using Joseph to rescue Egypt as some wisdom from God, for times of trouble. While we can’t actually say that God will give us a dream about our financial future, like He did to Pharaoh, we can say that God will give us the necessary wisdom to get through the problems of life, when we look to Him for that wisdom and trust in Him in faith.
As we look at this story, there are a couple of incongruencies that I think we need to take into account. The first is that God used this dream to save Egypt, not to save Israel. Egypt doesn’t hold a good place in the Bible, as they were oppressors of Israel, holding them in slavery for roughly 400 years (after this point in time). They are often used symbolically to represent the world, standing in contrast to the Kingdom of God. Granted, God saving Egypt ended up helping Joseph/Israel and his children survive the drought and the famine that came with it, but God could have done that without saving Egypt in the process.
The second thing that doesn’t add up, mathematically speaking, is that Joseph’s plan, based on his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams, was to save up one-fourth of the food that Egypt harvested during the seven years of plenty, so that there would be food for the seven years of lack. That food being saved was obviously the extra that the land was producing during the seven years of plenty. But that was still only one-third of the food that the nation was consuming during those years. How would that be enough for the nation of Egypt to live off of, for another seven years? Besides that, others were buying food from Egypt to get them through the drought.
There are only two ways that the food being collected would be enough to meet the need. The first would be that they were still producing some food during those years and the food saved only made up for the difference. The second is that God multiplied the food, as needed, to ensure that they had enough. We don’t know which of those happened, but there’s a good chance that it was a combination of the two.
So, where does this leave us? While we don’t have a dream or vision from God to use for guidance, like Pharaoh did, the wisdom he received from that dream should apply to us as well. That is, we should save up, while we can, for the time when we might not have as much. I’m not talking about saving up in fear; but rather saving up in faith, trusting God to take care of us.
That’s the other part, faith in God. Regardless of what we save up, we will need to trust in God to take care of us. Every indicator there is, points towards hard financial times and shortages. Even so, those don’t have to affect us to the degree that they will everyone else, if we trust in God. He has ways of taking care of His people. That doesn’t mean that He makes them rich, when everyone else is poor. But it does mean that He won’t allow our children to starve. He won’t forget us or our needs.
I have been young, and now am old: yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. – Psalm 37:25 KJV