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Are these unprecedented times? Not really.

While it seems like things have never been the way they are right now, this excerpt from Ron Blue's 1994 book Storm Shelter reminds us that "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecc 1:9). Ron points out that while economic uncertainty is certain, God's principles are adequate for our protection. They've been tested through the centuries and never found wanting.

The picture is as clear in my mind as it was nearly thirteen years ago. As I pulled off the interstate en route to my office, I did not see the road markers; instead my eyes swam with the signs of the times.

The year was 1982. Interest and inflation rates had soared to all-time highs, investors faced crushing 70 percent tax brackets, and the price of gold leapfrogged daily. Taking stock of the situation, most analysts warned of a devastating financial explosion within the next few years.

As I drove to work that day, the economic consequences seemed both crippling and inevitable. I had just launched our investment and financial counseling firm. How, I wondered, were we supposed to respond to the clients who came to us for advice? Could anyone afford to purchase a home with 15 to 20 percent interest rates? Which kinds of investments and tax plans could stand up to double-digit inflation? And if the predicted monetary collapse did occur, would the resulting political turmoil uproot even the best-laid financial plans?

One of my fears as I navigated the interstate highway that day was that we faced a "worst-ever"? economic climate. Yet economic uncertainty - and its accompanying effects on our sense of security and well-being - are nothing new.

Ten years earlier, in 1972, we had been saddled with Watergate and an oil crisis that threatened to throttle the world's economy. Who can forget the lines at the gas stations or the rationing of fuel oil that winter? Then, too, I remember being hit with wage and price controls for the first time since World War II. And for the first time in my memory, the prime rate hit ten percent. Economic security seemed an elusive, if not impossible, dream.

Ten years before that, in 1962, the specter of economic and political uncertainty had hovered in every corner of the world. Our amazement at seeing a shoe-pounding Nikita Khrushchev vow to "bury"? us turned to horror as the Cuban missile crisis unfolded. At that point a nuclear holocaust seemed at least possible, if not imminent. And Vietnam lay just around the corner . . .

In 1952, in the shadow of the spread of Communism, amid the mud and blood of the Korean War, bomb shelters were among the best-selling items in the United States. In 1942, we faced Pearl Harbor and felt the full force of our entry into World War II. In 1932 we awoke to the nightmare of the Great Depression. And on and on and on. The point is that we will always face uncertainty.

Suddenly, I felt the subconscious click of the proverbial light bulb: The biblical principles of money management I had been teaching and using for years would work under any economic scenario. Armed with these concepts, I knew exactly how to help our clients weather the coming storm, no matter how hard the financial winds blew.

The predicted financial blowout never did occur. Yet as our business grew in the years that followed, we faced a thousand different financial situations that seemed specially tailored to test the worth and endurance of the money-management concepts our firm espoused. But in each and every case the biblical principles held fast, strengthening our clients' economic positions - and bringing them peace and security in the bargain.

So what does this mean? It means you should have inside-out thinking. You should avoid panic selling. You should have a long-term game plan and stick to it.

You see, it's easy to make a case that this time is different. But friends, just as you should not "grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope" (1 Thess. 4:13), neither should you be fearful like the rest of men who have no heavenly Father who has promised to "meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19). So, keep praying, that the Father "may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better" (Eph.1:17).

7 Key Principles for Christian Investing

IRAs, 401(k)s and Social Security: A Retirement Planning Primer

Gold as an Investment: Will Precious Metals Continue To Shine?

Inflation History: The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Dollar

Posted by Matthew at 10:37 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Category(s): Current Market Events, Economy
Tag(s): economy, Faith, market volatility

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