Dear...
‘More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold.’
Psalm 19:10
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. Much as I know the will of God much better now, I must confess that I am still far from a man of complete faith in my response. Belief, is the bridge that will bring us across to the life that God wants us to live, away from the finite man we are. But it is a bridge that is like those we see in the Indiana Jones movies, a swinging rope type bridge that sways not just with the elements, but our own tentative fearful steps, as we walk across the deep chasm.
Gold is what attracts most today. Just a couple of days back, I finally brought home a half oz gold coin for my son, a co investor in this golden endeavor, to chew on. Either he has watched too many B grade movies or his distrust of governments have translated into that for his dear old dad as well, for he wanted to bite on the gold coin to test its hardness and prayerfully, intrinsic content to ensure that it is not a gold colored chocolate.
Hard to fault him on his lesser faith, given that this was a kangaroo half oz from Australia, and the poor marsupial has lent its namesake to one too many scams. And not forgetting that once true blue governments are a lot less trustworthy than normal.
‘A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.’
Proverbs 16:9
Some might have remembered I shared about my near moment of madness in almost committing to a very expensive apartment back in Jan this year. And as a dutiful believer, I did ask God for a few brief seconds as to the correctness of the decision, and felt the peace, though on hindsight, it was more an adrenalin rush in the head that make me giddy, rather than genuine peace of the heart. But God knows our limits, and as shared in the previous sharing, He will divinely intervene to keep us safe from temptations including ourselves. And having been shaken out of my delusion that morning, our good Lord impressed upon my heart, the same night, this deep sense on the need to prepare for an “oil shock.”
‘They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed, their silver and their gold shall not deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord….’
Ezekiel 7:19
It has been seven months since that heady day. And on reflection the only two things that I felt was the appropriate response to the Spirit's leading to this coming “oil shock,” turned out to be right. And every other investments that I have made since based on my own understanding have been off the mark.
Buying paper gold(something I have not done since my last purchase of physical gold at usd750/oz in response to the Spirit’s leading 3 years earlier) and shorting the S&P stock index(taking a view that the US stock markets will fall significantly) was the responses I took, not entirely illogical but definitely not what I would have done at that point in Jan 2011, if based on my own understanding.
If you sense that I am moving to the “prosperity message” then you are only quarter right. I believe God will prosper the faithful, but not in the narrow definition of what many a misguided flock have been led awry on. It is richness of a life lived walking in faith with our Lord in all circumstances, and not the riches of a worldly life (that brings with it the angst and destruction of one’s soul that the devil tried to lure our Lord Jesus Christ with) that God will bless the willing with.
God knows our needs in this difficult world, and He will and has provided. And for those who are willing to be used by Him to shepherd the flock, He will more than provide us with the means, but are you using well what He has has blessed you with? Monies does help to move things in this sinful world, but the means of achieving it and dispensing it must be led by the Lord and not in co-partnership with us. We are the instrument that the Lord uses, but we are not the co-driver, much as we often like to believe so.
'For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God....'
1 Corinthians 3:19
Is this a correct conclusion? That we move only when the Spirit moves us, and not otherwise? It is very difficult for all of us, who have this fruit of the knowledge imbibed in us, thanks to the sinful Adam. I struggle often and being in the business of financial investments, I guess I am a little more regularly exposed to the twin fork roads of decision making, than most. And to be honest, like Jacob the shrewd and worldly man, I often wrestle with the Lord and the logic of His ways, much as I know His will.
‘He must increase, but I must decrease’
John 3:30
Gold today reached a high of US$1707/oz. This was just past the level that I felt God impressed upon me a couple of months back as the level to sell. Madness it might seem to many including professed Christians. Does God really speak with such precision? I have come to learn that He does show us clearly His will at His timing, not at our asking. Question and struggle for me has always been the willingness to response in total belief and obedience. Am I prepared to put aside my wisdom and do as the Lord leads, much as it might not seem logical?
I sold my gold at US$1620/oz exactly a week ago, after a momentous struggle to hang on. Once again, I have disobeyed, and have deprived others whom God want me to bless with these provisions because of my imperfect and brittle faith.
‘But He knows the way that I take,, when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.’
Job 23:10
Where are the financial markets heading? I might have some inkling. But that matters less. I believe that God has shown me the level to take the profit on my short S&P. It is another 11.6% further fall in the market.
Does this make me sound like that those false prophets that appear with daily regularity in the financial news? If it is so, I am afraid you will be disappointed for I really have no idea. But I do know the impressions that God has placed upon my heart and till He shows me otherwise, I must obey and this is the level that I have placed to take out my present position.
‘More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold.’
Psalm 19:10
And here lies the key point that many of us missed. God will use anointed man of faith to speak to us. However, our relationship with Him is an unique and personal one, and such pointers are to help encourage us to look towards Him, as He transforms us. And as to God’s specific approach to refine us in His likeness, only He knows and He will show you and it is God we must look to and not man, no matter how anointed they are.
'...Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.'
Hebrews 12:26-27
Man look for riches of the world and hanker after brittle gold in such times of insecurity.
God wants to give us a richness of life grounded upon our Lord Jesus Christ, that will be unshakable regardless of circumstances. This is the gold as refined by God that we must seek to buy, as the End Times intensify. And the world around us will shake even more, be it the beginnings of collapses of countries, in an intensity and magnitude that will be greater than that experienced during the sub prime crisis when collapses were at the corporate level. The world will not come to an end till Christ returns, but it will be an increasingly unbearable and uncertain world that we are living in.
'Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today and forever.'
Hebrews 13:8
'For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.'
1 Corinthians 13:8
The imperfect me is still learning to follow in total obedience, much as I have come to know His will. God is faithful. Just as I was doing my quiet time this evening, He brought me to lesson number 15 "The sure thing" in my course "The Heart of the Shepherd." The author shared about her own act of disobedience much as she knew without doubt, the instructions God has given her. Yet, God remains faithful much as she erred. But with a heart that in all her imperfections still seek after the Lord, she did not allow sin to creep in too long and in her repentance, God provided and her faith grew. This is what I am going through now as shared today, and this might be what many of you who love the Lord are going through. And for those who have not embarked on this journey to seek our Lord with your all, time is short and the need to "buy gold" as in our imperfect character being refined by God is of the utmost urgency, for the storms are fast building up, and no one can stand steadfast unless our Lord Jesus Christ is their foundation.
'But he that heareth and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great.'
Luke 6:49
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(8th Aug 2011)
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