Dear…
'Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert…'
Isaiah 43:18-19
This was the verse that Reverend Francis Khoo of Covenant Vision shared in his prophetic word for year 2009. You can read his message on the following link http://www.covenantvision.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=242&Itemid=81(. Men by themselves, cannot predict, but God can and do use men and women of faith to forewarn and prepare His flock on His future plans.
But are our hearts cognizance?
I read Rev Khoo's message at the beginning of year 2009, and it affirmed what the Lord has placed in my heart, that this is the year of great delusion, and unless we are grounded upon the Lord our Rock, none of us will escape the wiles of the devil and our own self-deceiving finite mind. And since the same verse Isaiah 43 pop up in my radar again just yesterday, when I was reading the Antioch Mission latest newsletter on their work in China (http://www.am-ccsm.org) and their sharing on this same verse from Isaiah as the word that God placed in their hearts these past few months, it is prayerfully an opportune time and may it be truly the leading of the Holy Spirit for me to expand upon this very significant verse, as a reminder that man plans, truly God directs.
'…weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.'
Psalm 30:5
History it might seem, in the present intensified market exuberance, but just a short few months back in Mar 09, the world was on the verge of financial collapse. And today, it looks like we have left the winter of despair behind and have entered not just a new spring, but one that might just boil over into an overflow of great optimism, though as of now, it looks more like a vat of frustrated greed and fear of being left behind.
I remember in Mar 09, in the mood of a seemingly bottomless pit of despair, fear and pessimism, that a colleague managed to extract some rather long dated financial data, stretching back all the way to the Great Depression, of the late 1930s.
As I reviewed this morning, the penciled-in notes that I wrote in Mar 09, two possible scenarios was painted from my finite observation then.
One, that the Dow Jone Industrial Index, which had fallen 52% from a peak of about 14,000 points to present 6547(9th Mar 09), would if it was like the Great Depression of the 1930s, would have another 32% to fall, to a level of 3800 points
Or Two, if the scenario was like that of the stagflation days of the 1970s, then the Dow Jone Index was at the short term bottom as of Mar 09, and was due for a big spurt up of about 100%, just like what transpired back in the 1970s, when a combination of currency devaluation, IMF rescue of the UK as well as liquidity pumping by Central Banks floated the listing global financial markets to almost its previous peak in a short one year.
If it had not been the Lord Who was on our side, when men rose up against us. Then they had swallowed us up quick….then the waters had overwhelmed us….'
Psalm 124:1-5
Today, on 6th Aug 09, much as most are baffled and increasingly frustrated by the illogical and relentless rise in global stockmarkets and property prices(at least in Singapore and Hk), it is a reality. Yet for many whose wealth have been decimated by banks' forced selling to repay loans, at the lows in Mar 09, or by their own sheer panic, what was lost will not be recoverable. And so, for many, it is a crossroad again, back from the brink to the towering heights, and having not participated, should they now go on this new endeavour of sheer folly or feat?
Flummox is a term that describe something incomprehensible and beyond understanding, and that is the state of emotion most who uses their brains will be in. A state of flux.
'Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness… O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto Thee for ever.'
Psalm 30:11-12
If one measures one's relationship with our Sovereign God by the prescience of one's timing in selling high in July 2007 and buying low in Mar 09, then one will be a thoroughly disappointed and disillusioned Christian, for this financial tsunami would have not differentiated much between one's spiritual affiliation. Yet, in the midst of this systematic destruction, those who draw near to God will understand His ways, and will see indeed that God did shelter us, much as we might not have been in full obedience.
'Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.'
Psalm 73:24
I believe by God's Divine intervention, I have found my peace with myself by turning to God, and my focus is no longer on growing wealth but on investing in His kingdom, for HE has provided and will provide.
Much as the haze from Indonesia, is unfortunately back with us, a recurring consequence of the push for biofuel, fueled by the profit oriented desire to plant more palm oil, in itself driven by the stockmarket madness of the previous years to reward this haphazard theme of alternative fuel. I am no longer in a dizzy daze like many might still be, nor am I faze by whatever the world has and will continue to surprise us with, and with this greater clarity of heart, the Lord showed me an interpretation of the vision that Reverend Khoo shared in his year 2009 prophetic word.
'Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path….I have inclined mine heart to perform Thy statutes always, even unto the end.'
Psalm 112:105-112
Rev Khoo had a vision of a very strong bull, joined by a bear running stride for stride. And as both ran, the floor beneath their hooves or paws popped up to reveal treasures, for men dressed in white to garner. It just struck me these past few days that the bull could represent the exuberant financial economy(stocks and properties), while the bear represents the still insipid real economy(where unemployment and business failures are still very real and running quite high). No wonder those of us who use the past proven experience of learned knowledge totally missed out the market moves. Only consolation is that almost everyone was using the same watermark. Like what God said in Isaiah 43 above, He is bringing us into a new thing, in fact, who would imagine a spring of hope in the desert of despair all were in just in Mar this year?
'My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth….The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.'
Psalm 121:1-8
What about the future? All of us who have assets and have not been forced sold or panicked in Mar will by now have seen a more than decent recovery in values. Yet, will you not be willing to be like the men in white( I count myself like these men) who seek the Lord even in our own imperfections, to be blessed to be reminded by the Lord, that now is the time to garner those recovered values, which in the lows of Mar, was seemingly impossible to imagine. We should be picking up the "fruitful droppings" as the bull surged ahead, instead of trying to run in front of it, like many are beginning to, in terms of entering into new investments at current "crazed" valuations or are they not? And what about the bear? There are indeed things of value left behind in this frenzied chase, for us that the Lord will show us, in preparation for what is ahead, be it possiby high inflation or not.
'Keep your lives free from the love of money and be contented with what you have because God has said "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.'
Hebrews 13:5-6
Amazed we all are by God's grace in His provisions. But if we do not turn to Him now, we will find ourselves entering a maze of our own sinful lusts, a maze that many will find impossible to get out of, should truly the 1970s be repeated, for after the one year of liquidity fueled recovery, the markets went for a 15-20% correction, to allow fundamentals to catch up. But as some might recall, the mullahs of Iran did not play according to plan, and with the second oil crisis, investors and real businesses found themselves caught in a tizzy, and with interest rates at 24% for US$ and 12% for Singapore dollar deposits, the picnic was not just over(just like the many nonchalant who were trampled by both bull and bear in Rev Khoo's vision), but for many years, till one Ronald Reagan and her damsel across the Atlantic, Mrs Margaret Thatcher,entered the picture in the 1980s and with his "Star Wars" theory, and her iron fist that beat the the trade unions into a wimp, the world never regained its taste for fantasy.
Will the past repeat itself. Only our good Lord knows, for He is the Apha and the Omega.
And so, instead of mulling over the low to near zero interest you are receiving, and racking your head over better return investments, why not leave it to the Lord's leading and let the ground lie fallow, and use the blessings that God has returned to us, the undeserving for His kingdom as in
'..don't forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.'
Hebrews 13:16
Rgds and God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(6th Aug 09)
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