Prayers for money worries and provision

When the bill arrives

For the hour after you find out. The letter, the email, the number on the screen that you have now read three times. Nothing has been decided yet and you cannot think straight.

• For opening the letter

  God, I have opened it and the number is worse than I thought. I do not know what to do with it yet. Do not let me pretend it away, and do not let me drown in it. Stay while I read it again.

• A short prayer for the shock

  God, I am winded. Hold me steady for an hour.

• When it lands on top of everything

  Lord, this is on top of the other thing, and the thing before that. I am not asking for all of it to lift today. Just enough breath to get through this evening.

Awake at three in the morning

For the middle of the night, when the arithmetic starts up on its own and there is nobody to tell. Nothing can be done about any of it until the offices open.

• The sums that will not stop

  I have done the sums four times and they come out the same. I cannot fix this at three in the morning. Take the arithmetic off me until it is light, and let me sleep.

• Nothing to ask, just staying

  God, I have nothing to ask tonight. I am just here, and awake, and you know why.

• For the fear that comes at night

  The fear is bigger in the dark than it is at the kitchen table. I know that, and knowing it does not help. Be nearer to me than the fear is. Get me to the morning.

When there is not enough

For the days between the money running out and the money coming in. The meter, the food, the small thing a child asked for that you had to refuse.

• For the week before payday

  God, there are six days left and not enough for six days. Show me what to do with what is here. And give me today what we need for today.

• When a child asks for something

  She asked for something small and I said no, and she does not know why. Lord, I hate this. Do not let my children carry what belongs to me.

• For the heating and the meter

  It is cold in here and I am counting the meter. You know what a warm house costs. Provide what we need, and in the meantime keep us well.

• For food in the house

  Give us food this week. That is the prayer.

When you have to ask for help

For the call you keep not making, the queue you never expected to stand in, and the person who quietly helped. Also for the weeks when you are the one being asked.

• Before the phone call to them

  God, I have to ring them and say I cannot pay. Take some of the shame out of my mouth before I dial. Let me tell the truth about it, and let them hear it.

• Standing in the queue

  I did not think I would ever be standing here. Lord, meet me in this queue and spare me the lecture. Let me take what is offered and not hate myself for taking it.

• For the one who helped quietly

  Bless the one who put money in my account and said nothing about it. Whatever it cost them, make it up to them. Let me one day be on that side of it.

• When someone else has less

  You know what I have, which is not much. Show me who is worse off than me this week, and show me what I have to give that is not money. The call, the hour, the sitting with someone who has nobody.

When you are angry about it

For the resentment you would not say out loud. At the people who have never had to count, at whoever caused this, at yourself, and at God for the silence.

• Angry at people with plenty

  I am sick of watching people who have never once had to think about it. Some of that is envy and some of it is not, and I cannot tell which is which tonight. I am telling you rather than swallowing it. Do something with it, because I cannot.

• When it was not your fault

  This was not carelessness. The hours were cut and the rent went up, and I am tired of being spoken to like a fool. God, you saw what actually happened. Say so.

• When you are done praying

  I have prayed about this for a long time and nothing has moved. I am not going to pretend otherwise tonight. I am still here, which is all I have got.

Bible verses about money and provision

What each passage meant where it was written, and what it does and does not offer you now.

• Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.

  Matthew 6:25–34

  Jesus said this to people living hand to mouth, not to people with savings. It is not an order to stop feeling anxious, and it is not a reason to skip the budget, the benefits check or the phone call. Read it as permission to put tomorrow down until tomorrow. Today has enough in it already.

• The rich rule over the poor. The borrower is servant to the lender.

  Proverbs 22:7

  This is not a threat and not a telling off. It is a flat observation about what owing money does to a person, and anyone who has been chased by a creditor already knows it is accurate. The Bible does not pretend debt is only a spiritual matter. If Scripture can say it plainly, so can you, to God and to a debt adviser.

• Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me

  Proverbs 30:7–9

  One of the few prayers in the Bible that is actually about money, and it asks for neither wealth nor want. The reason given is spiritual rather than practical. Too much and he forgets God, too little and he steals. Take it as permission to pray for enough, without having to justify wanting the bills covered.

• I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.

  Psalm 37:25–26

  This is one old man's testimony about one long life, not a rule about everybody's. It gets quoted at people in real poverty as though an empty cupboard proved something about their faith, which is a cruel use of it. He is saying what he saw. He is not denying what you are seeing.

Where these verses get misused

You will have heard some of this used badly. Proverbs 3 turned into a transaction, as though the right giving buys a full barn. Philippians 4:19 read as a timetable. Psalm 37, where an old man says he never saw the righteous begging, quoted at people who are genuinely going without, as if an empty cupboard were evidence about their faith. And “don’t be anxious” used to shame you for being anxious, or to imply you should not be claiming what you are owed, ringing a debt adviser, or keeping a spreadsheet. None of that is what these passages are doing.

Questions people ask

Is it wrong to pray for money?

No. One of the few prayers about money in the Bible asks God for the food that is needful, which is a request about supply and not a poetic way of talking about something else. Asking God for money is asking for the thing you actually need. Ask plainly. The Psalms are full of people telling God exactly what is missing, and none of them are polite about it.

Should I still get debt advice if I am praying about it?

Yes, and sooner than you want to. Praying about money is not an alternative to a debt adviser, a benefits check, a food bank, a conversation with your landlord or a payment plan. Nothing in these passages suggests otherwise. In the UK free debt advice exists and it is confidential, and it works better the earlier you go. Pray on the way there if you like, but go.

Why has God not answered? I have prayed for months.

We do not know, and neither does anybody who tells you they do. The Bible contains people who were fed and people who went hungry, and it does not explain the difference between them. What we can say is that an unanswered prayer is not evidence that you prayed it wrongly, or that you lack faith, or that you are being punished for something. Keep asking. You are allowed to be angry while you do it.

Does God promise to provide?

Scripture says God provides. It does not say when, how much, or through whom, and many of the people who wrote those words were poor and stayed poor. What comes may look like a neighbour, a benefit payment, a job well beneath what you trained for, or simply a week where the money reached. We are not going to tell you a windfall is coming. We do not know that.

Is being in debt a sin, or a punishment?

Debt is not a verdict on you. Proverbs is honest that borrowing puts you under someone else's power, which describes how debt works rather than judging you for being in it. Wages fall, rents rise, illness arrives, and interest does the rest. If some of it was your own choosing, that is worth saying to God honestly, and it still is not a punishment.