Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!' Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it." – Habakkuk 2:19

Today's Scripture Reading (July 3, 2026): Habakkuk 2

How are your retirement savings doing? The closer I get to my retirement, the more important that question seems. The truth is that none of us are probably doing as well as we should. I have friends who are angry because they believe that the government has purposely kept them poor and unable to afford to retire. Others recognize that it is our responsibility to save for the day when we let go of our paid work and retire to the retirement we all feel we deserve. The truth might live somewhere in between. Although I find that most of the time, we seem to live in a fantasy world where the government has unlimited funds to give us what we want, with no need to ask us to pay the bill through our taxes. However, our reality is that we all need to manage our money well so it lasts into our retirement years. If we can't make the most of our money now and save for retirement, we probably wouldn't do so even if the nation's financial conditions were different.

I am afraid that the day is coming when conditions will change, and not for the better. I am worried that the day is coming when we will be forced to pay back the national debt, and on that day, we will be surprised by the things our government will no longer be able to do for us. We have become comfortable with deficit spending, and that is always a dangerous place to be. What the government should be able to do for us has become an idol for us, but one on which we cannot rely.

Habakkuk is not talking about money, but he could be. He is speaking about idols made out of wood and stone. And his point is that these idols don't live. Regardless of how good we are at creating them or how realistic they look, they will never draw a breath or be able to help us lift a load. There is no guidance in their gaze, and they will not carry us into battle. In fact, these idols depend on us for life just as they depended on us for their creation.

Our government isn't all that different. We created them, and we continue their existence. But they cannot do everything we might want them to do. We have to rely on our own ability to lead our lives with confidence and an eye to the future. But the government will never be able to save us. Only God can do that.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Habakkuk 3