With the recent stock market crash, businesses all across the country are in trouble. There is at least one exception to that, however. One business is doing more business than ever before. That is the business of fortune telling and crystal-ball gazing. Persons in this business report that business is booming. And it is different from the kind of business that they usually do. The most common kind of business that they usually do is related to matters of the heart—love, romance, and relationships. The business now is about business. Where is the nation’s economy going? What will the stock market do?
These are extremely difficult questions to answer. The national landscape is littered with the shattered reputations of financial seers who could supposedly predict what the stock market was going to do. Reminds me of the story of Einstein who reportedly had two very different kinds of roommates in college. One of them had an I.Q. of 140, and the other had an I.Q. of 80. With the guy who had an I.Q. of 140, Einstein discussed quantum physics. And with the guy who had an I.Q. of 80, he discussed what the stock market was going to do the next year.
If the financial experts cannot predict with any degree of accuracy the future of the financial markets, I doubt that the psychics will do any better. It’s been said that he who lives by the crystal ball must learn to eat ground glass. Several years ago the Psychic Friends Network had to declare bankruptcy. Insiders said that they never saw it coming.
We have to be careful about dealing with the future. James wrote: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’†(James 4:13-15). The Lord has a way of humbling us as we make presumptions about the future. Events, financial and otherwise, are constantly reminding us that our lives are in His hands.
Christopher Morley said that he once attended a play with the man who had written the play. The author was constantly whispering in his ear during the performance. The author was commenting on the plot that was unfolding and what was coming next. Morley said, “He anticipated all of my surprises and ruined my evening.†Then Morley added. “Never again! The greatest Author of all made no such mistake.â€
Because God made no such mistake with us and the future, life is filled with the excitement of anticipation and with a profound need for faith and trust in Him!
