All across the world men and women have amassed great fortunes. Their security in life was built upon their riches. But as the greed ate away at common sense and the foundations of good investing practices, debt crept in to undermine the whole system. The walls of security crumble.
The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.
Proverbs 18:11
In 1929, New York City had become a major metropolis, and its Wall Street district was one of the world’s leading financial centers. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was the largest stock market in the world. The “Roaring Twenties”, the decade that led up to the Wall Street Crash, was a time of wealth and excess in the city, and despite caution of the dangers of speculation, many believed that the market could sustain high price levels. It didn’t.
In 1987, Stock markets around the world, starting in Hong Kong, crashed again. Potential causes for the crash include program trading, overvaluation, illiquidity, and market psychology.
Now, in 2009, we are in the midst of the global financial crisis. It began in July 2007 when a loss of confidence by investors in the value of securitised mortgages in the United States resulted in a liquidity crisis that prompted a substantial injection of capital into financial markets by the United States Federal Reserve, Bank of England and the European Central Bank. In September 2008, the crisis deepened, as stock markets worldwide crashed and entered a period of high volatility, and a considerable number of banks, mortgage lenders and insurance companies failed in the following weeks.
The picture of turmoil on the Trading Floor at the Stock Exchange is reflective of the same pandemonium that washes over men and woman all over the world when a devastating crash penetrates the defenses of their very security.
Confidence is shattered. For some it’s all too much and they jump off the nearest building. Most ride it through, bewildered, until they can recover – if ever.
However, as a follower of Jesus Christ, our confidence is not in our wealth. Our confidence is held securely in the name of our Lord.
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
Proverbs 18:10
To those who do not know Jesus Christ as Lord will not understand this. But they can.
Where, or in what, does your security lay? How secure is it?
Salvation comes to those who seek it.