Fear of poverty can cause you to hoard things or hold on to things. In my case it was thinking that I wouldn't have the money to replace the items later on when I would need them. For example, I was saving my daughter's old clothes from all the way back to when she was a toddler up until recently. I was saving the clothes for our next baby, but we got a boy - so, I realized that if I saved for the next baby, those clothes would be there a long time before she would even be able to wear them. However, when I decided to get rid of them and even sold a few, I started closing up and became scared to let them go. I was scared I wouldn't be able to find such nice things again and scared that I wouldn't have the money to buy my next child clothes.
I finally was able to let go of the sentimental value of them but I still held on to the fear of poverty. Not only did God reassure me in the recent study that I shouldn't fear that - He also showed me that fear of poverty was actually unbelief. Unbelief is something that is not given much attention in the Christian world today. Yet, it has the same ability to send you to hell as does murdering someone.
Revelation 21:8
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
God has taken care of us when we barely had any money and in our time of plenty. Not only did God always provide our every need, He also fulfilled some of our wants! Satan wants us to think that if we let go of something there will be a time we will regret it and we will be without. If you let go of those clothes, your child will be naked and without he says. That isn't faith talk - that is faithLESS talk! That is fear-based future planning and not something that we should heed.
You could even have everything set for your future all nice and in pretty little rows, figuratively speaking - but things could come and take that all away in a moment. That is why we are commanded not to trust in riches (abundance of external possessions) because they are not certain - only God is!!
It is one thing to have a storehouse and be wise, but it is another to hoard because we fear the future. God can take care of us, we don't need to be ruled by fear of our future. If we are in God's will, we can rest in that and know that He will meet all of our needs!
