Faith Reflections

The “Scarcity Assumption”

The man shuffled into Starbucks, his hand grasping the left hip pocket-area of his trousers, pulling up the left leg of his worn slacks, making it a full three inches shorter than the other. His coat collar was hunched up around his neck. The man seemed a foreigner among the latte drinking, laptop using customers that populated the shop. Moments later he made his way back out the door, having acquired a free glass of water. He took a seat at one of the small tables outside.

These are times of scarcity, and this man was wearing a wardrobe of scarcity. His is a place we don’t want to be. Scarcity is scary and in one way or another it scares us all. Jobs are scarce, money is scarce, solutions to our varied problems are scarce, time is scarce, and almost everything we could want seems to be scarce.

I feel the gnawing anxiety of scarcity at the beginning of each week when I stare at a blank legal pad of paper knowing that by Friday I need to have several such pages filled with notes from which to write the weekend message. I am wondering, more than anyone, what I will end up saying! I don’t like scarcity.

Parker Palmer writes about the “scarcity assumption” we often entertain. We begin to assume there’s going to be a scarcity of whatever we need for life to be good. Palmer states, “The irony, often tragic, is that by embracing the scarcity assumption, we create the very scarcities we fear.” (Let Your Life Speak, p. 107) The fear of scarcity can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Here’s the thing – if we believe in God, seek to be His person, and accept the fact that His intentions are good for us, then should we be living with a pervasive sense of scarcity? I don’t think so. God has unlimited resources and that should color our world. Let me rapid fire three Biblical texts.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38) “They will celebrate your abundant goodness…” (Psalm 145:7a)

I saw a well-dressed young businessman step out the door and give a cup of coffee to the man sipping his glass of water. The young man then came back in and took his seat in front of his laptop. “Did you just buy that guy a cup of coffee?” I asked. “I tried to, but they gave it to me,” he said, nodding to the guy behind the coffee bar. Apparently relieving scarcity is catching!

I’ve decided to believe that there’s not as much scarcity as I often allow myself to believe there is. I’m going to give up my “scarcity assumption” and assume I can count on a God of abundant provision! You too?