Human arrogance creates problems, but we never seem to learn that lesson.  In the 1920’s the nation was optimistic, confident, and increasingly focused on money.  Things were getting better, the stock market was climbing, and people were getting rich.  Because they were rich, people believed they knew something, and so people listened to them.  But they were wrong. 

Lesson Number One:  Because people are rich, it doesn’t mean they are intelligent, or that they know much about anything.  A second and related lesson is that because someone is famous, it does not follow that they are intelligent or deserve to have their viewpoint heard.

As the nation collapsed, and financial ruin became the norm, people remembered that there were things more important than making a lot of money.  People remembered that it might be important to know how to plant a garden, can vegetables, and repair your own equipment.  Having a few acres in the country became more important that having a fancy apartment in the city. 

Lesson Number Two:  It is better to be prepared for hard times than to spend all your effort learning how to be sophisticated and successful in good times.  It’s better to know something about how to fix your well pump than how to give yourself Botox injections.

In good times people tend to forget about God; they think they have all they need, and don’t need God’s help.  As the depression deepened, many people realized they were depending on the wrong things.  People, and communities, turned to God with a new urgency and sincerity. 

Lesson Number Three:  When hard times come, there is security only in our faith in God.  How many other things have we tried to substitute for God and God-given values?  Our President-elect was quoted as saying that being Christian was being true to one’s self.  I would beg to differ.   Being a Christian is about being true to the Holy Spirit; that is often the opposite of being true to “one’s self,” which is always selfish, sensual, and rebelliously arrogant.

All of these lessons have been forgotten.  My parents lived through the Depression, and they learned something about faith in God, about the meaning of hard work, and about not taking anything (except your faith in Christ) for granted.  They learned not to trust wealthy advisors just because they were wealthy (or famous).  Once, my Dad was asked by a famous televangelist to join him in an endeavor.  When my Dad refused, saying he did not feel the Lord was in it, the televangelist became very angry with my father.  Later that man came to Dad and apologized, saying he had made a big mistake. 

Although my parents were eventually comfortable, they never took it for granted.  My dad worked until five weeks before his death at the age of 91.  Because he had gone through the experience of being wiped out financially, he never trusted money.  He loved to garden, always trying new crops to see what would work better.  He would have been nauseated by the idea of people having surgery to “look better.” 

Most importantly, my parents learned to trust God.  When they were first married, and my older sister was just an infant, they came down to what was literally their last dime and head of cabbage.  My Dad got on his knees and prayed, and before the day was out, the Lord miraculously intervened to provide for their needs. 

Perhaps an economic recession or even a depression will remind us of what is important.  There are many people who are frightened, and for the first time they are questioning the things they have trusted, like money and government, and their own wisdom.  When we get scared and humbled, our ears are more likely to be opened to our need for Jesus Christ.  If we have another depression and it shakes people out of their complacency, and brings them to Christ, perhaps it will be a blessing.  Our country has enjoyed many years of security and prosperity, and God has become irrelevant.  But the truth is that our country needs God, has always needed Him, but in our arrogance we thought we were enough all by ourselves.   Serving the self will never be enough, and in truth, it is the road that leads to destruction both personally and as a nation.  Until we learn these lessons of the Great Depression, we are preparing the way for the next one.