'Man's goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?'
Proverbs 20:24
Sombre as it might seem, prayerfully, my past two sharings did bring most of us into a clearer sense of perspective, by cutting through the miasma of everyday living that delude and preclude us from seriously addressing the reality at hand, ie life is finite and what comes after is eternal, be it damnation or salvation.
Still, I am reminded by the Lord that sobriety might not draw anyone's attention as much as gaeity, and as many are apt to believe, money might not be a panacea for all the ills of the world, but it is a good start.
So let me take a step out of this recent nostalgia walk and instead, plug right into what excites the world today.
'They shall walk after the Lord; He shall roar like a lion; when He shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west'
Hosea 11:10
Many of us today tremble a little not because of the fear of the Lord, but rather, when one of two things happen. The American Bald Eagle is symbolic of American's strength as a global superpower, but increasingly, the bald pate could be a symbol of declining virility in the once feared superpower, and the bare facts are, Americans today could be in the same addictive mode as our Chinese ancestors(during the opium days of the declining Qing Empire), difference being their addiction is towards free spending consumerism fueled by easy credit.
A decade or two back, it was given that 'when the USA sneeze, the rest of the world catches a flu.' Today, this might hold less ground but nevertheless, there is still some potency left in those nasal gymnastics, especially with the two most populous nations(China and India) in the world doing some gravity defying pirouettes with their financial markets.
'An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning, but the end thereof shall not be blessed'
Proverbs 20:21
I am of the old school, as far as choice of books are concerned. I still harbour romantic ideas of the old colonial days, and though I have not even read one full book(other than watching a Disney cartoon version of 'The Jungle Book) by the great British writer, Rudyard Kipling, whenever I think of India, I think of the Elephant.
Other than Dumbo the Elephant, whose big flappy ears allowed him to fly, Hollywood has been quite factual in representing elephants as they are. In the cartoon, Tarzan, the elephants literally went on a stampede in a multitude of directions, when they found this strange looking human in the midst of their communal bath by the river.
Fortunately, Tarzan wasn't crushed or there will be not furthur adventures. But imagine, if the red-hot Indian stockmarket, which was till the past few years, insipid for a long, long time decides to take a tumble, what would happen to the many investors out in this wonderful utopia, where many have come to believe that levitation and sleeping on a bed of nails is a common humdrum of Indian daily life?
'It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth'
Proverbs 20:14
Leaving our ivory tower aside, what about the mythical dragon? In China today, like the mythical Pheonix that rose from the ashes, many spanking new cities are rising from what was once farmland, or discrepit industrial zones, Till the communist takeover in 1949, when history was rewritten and the Emperor was replaced by Comrade Mao, it was univerally accepted that the Emperor was the direct descendant of the Dragon. Not too sure how this ties in with the rumoured origins of the Han people, who was supposed to have risen from the mud baked banks of the Yellow River, but then anyone can bake a good story from the yellow mud of the river, the supposed cradle of Chinese civilization.
The number of claws that one placed on the dragon insignia that adorned one's official uniform is a key distinguishing mark of one's rank and status in the pecking order of the Qing dynasty. But today, in Red China, or rather in the red-hot Chinese stockmarket, the dragon has indeed resurfaced. Like the swirling dragon up in the air, the immense Chinese population with its deep savings, the insatiable appetite for making up for the years of material deprivation, coupled with the tremendous productive power of Chinese industrial capacity means a stockmarket that will only float to Heaven, where the Jade Emperor awaits.
'Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me; Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, 'Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain'
Proverbs 30:8-9
What about Hades, or at least good old terra firma? Like the isolationist Ming era chinese, when China ordained itself as the centre of the world and shut itself off from the realities of a new and advancing industrializing world that was coming out of the medieval ages, are the investors in China today being sucked into this greed driven bravado and belief that the dragon need never come thumping down to Mother Earth for a well needed breather?
The Japanese took close to two decades to come off the skids of a very mightly fall, when sunflowers(even if it was painted by the half mad Vincent Van Gogh ) was priced more correctly as a flower rather than a few million US$ worth of euphoric madness.
'Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neitehr shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive shall fail…….
….Yet I will rejoice n the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation'
Habakkuk 3:17-19
This was the verse the Lord brought me to twice the past two days. An odd couple, India and China might be today, but then, so was the internet and human genome, the then darling of the wild days of the technology boom. And for that matter, Malaysia and Thailand were bloated tiger cubs of the pre-Asian crisis heydays.
Money in itself is not wrong. Enjoying the many material blessings of God's provisions is a joy. But trouble starts when the blessings become our gods. And we forget the source of all our blessings.
In good times, we must thank the Lord and stay firmly grounded upon Him, notwithstanding the airy fairy world that many have gravitate to driven by their greed and fear. And in difficult times, Habakkuk reminds us to stay faithful and thankful, for God is faithful and God provides.
An ant can bring an elephant down. Myth it might seem, but markets do come crashing down for the most obvious but almost irrelevant reasons.
The dragon still exist in popular mythology, but not many an Emperor in China had a great ending despite their professed status as the descendent of the dragon.
Our Lord Jesus Christ will return, that is certain. What about market crashes?
Just as we are not asked to speculate on the timing of the Lord's return, but rather to be made ready by the Lord, to be like Him, when He returns.
Why not in the midst of plenty, consider giving, for God is love. In giving, we truly receive and peace, joy and contentment is more than a bargain compared to greed, fear and envy.
'It is more blessed to give than to receive'
Acts 20:35
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
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