bold when others are cautious

I’ve probably spent too much time watching the stock exchange and the forex market over the past few days… What’s happening in the world economy at the moment is pretty much unprecedented over the past 50 years, and there is lots of reasons come from lots of places as to why we should all be very concerned… (Update: In the last 3 months along we’ve since an average 50% recovery in the worlds economy. The world didn’t end.)

But here’s the thing. Google is not my bible, and here’s what my bible says…

Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

I am gladdened by the number of people I’ve spoken to lately who are starting out there own businesses, stepping out into the thing they WANT to do with their life, not sticking, out of fear, tradition, habit or laziness (inertia, basically…), with the thing that they feel THEY MUST do.

Here’s my point, and my encouragement to both myself and anyone else who’ll listen. Christians are afforded a unique position in the marketplace. If we choose to be obedient to God, partner with him at every step, and walk the line between faith and wisdom, God promises to provide our every need, and more than that, promises to give us “every place the sole of our foot treads”.

Wisdom often instructs us not to do things that we normally would… Faith often instructs us to do things we normally wouldn’t.

Somewhere in between those two tools God has given us there is His place of blessing, favor and peace. If we drill into what He has for us in this season in the marketplace, I believe that the volatility and the dominant spirit of fear and doubt that seems to be running the show worldwide at the moment has opened up an amazing opportunity for those who will engage faith and wisdom.

Numbers 14:24
But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.

It’s about having a different spirit, and following God fully. This verse is one of my favorites in the whole bible. Caleb was one of the spies that got sent into the region God had promised the tribe of Israel. Of twelve spies who went in, ten came back and reported on all the issues Israel would have conquering the region (it was inhabited by giants and filled with walled cities… they weren’t just going to walk in there). Only two, Caleb and Joshua, brought back a good report. Only two, Caleb and Joshua, ever made it into the Promised Land.

So if God is telling you to go to your next level in the marketplace, be it in your job you currently have, a new job, starting out for yourself, or growing your business, and you feel yourself tighten up because all the doom and gloom going around, buckle up and go for it! If God is in it and you do it with Him all the way, you will not fail.

Psalm 91
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”