God will take care of you
September 30, 2008 (Tuesday)
My stocks lost almost 10% yesterday, and in the last 3 months, 35%. I have not always owned stocks, but in 1983 inherited a couple, and have enjoyed watching their rise and fall (well, I enjoyed the rises, anyway). Fortunately for me in all this, I received the stocks as an inheritance, and have never actually invested anything. I can’t say that I have lost anything even if their value goes to zero.
In 1929, there was a bad day in the stock market, followed by a worse day, followed by another bad day, then followed by an entire month of bad days, as the market slowly got worse. In 1987, there was an even worse crash, as the market lost 22.6% in one day, followed by weeks of slower losses.
Perhaps like nothing else related to money, the stock market has good days and bad days. Yesterday was a very bad day. Today may be a bad day, too. The market is like the “little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead: when she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad, she was horrid!”
The stock market, of course, is functioning as a barometer. The real problems are elsewhere, and I don’t profess to understand them. Economics has always been a mysterious subject for me.
Again, then, we plead with ourselves to stay calm, trust God, and maintain priorities in keeping with the teachings of our Lord, who told us again and again to put spiritual matters on the front burners of our lives, trusting Him to provide the necessities of life. Of course, we should be wise and industrious in our daily work, but we must cling to Jesus’ appeal to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, trusting that all the things we need shall be supplied” (Matthew 6:33 paraphrased).