Prompt: the Great Depression in a Photo from a city street in the 1930s, vivid colors
Since the year I joined a Filipino-Chinese business community in 2009, I have been hearing about doom messages concerning the global economy. Discussion on interest rates and the role of the Federal Reserve occupy the center of attention in the long-anticipated global economic and financial crash. Fourteen years later, it seems that nothing is new except of course with the introduction of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology, which their advocates claim to offer a better solution to solve the world's economic and financial problems.
After all these years, my expectations have been tamed. I no longer listen to financial gurus like Gerald Celente, Jim Rickards, Robert Kiyosaki, and Peter Schiff. It appears to me that all they do are guesswork and probabilities. In reality, we don't know for sure what will happen in the coming weeks and months. We don't know if those who predict a market crash and recession will be correct. We don't know exactly how events will turn out. We don't know how the market will respond. Even technical analysis and identifying the psychology of the crowd are often misleading.
In the Bible, though the character of an economic crisis is far different from the one we face in modern times, however, we can find guidance on how to respond amid such a crisis.
In our study of Joseph's life, we come to the point that the dreams of Pharaoh about 7 years of famine had already started. Here we find Joseph providing a solution to the nations simply because God had given him the ability to interpret dreams and to prepare in advance before the famine started. And so in this article, I want to share with you how people who claim to have faith in God should respond in case of an economic crisis. But before we do that, let us review what happened to the journey of Jacob's children to Egypt.
The Narrative
Here we find three important stages:
The journey to Egypt
The report of Jacob's children to their father, and
The battle of two wills
Let us see first the journey to Egypt.
The children of Jacob were forced to go to Egypt as a result of severe famine. It never entered their mind that their coming to Egypt would change the rest of their lives. Three important events took place in Egypt:
- First, there was this unexpected meeting.
Joseph recognized his brothers immediately. He pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. Joseph's brothers did not recognize him. They were surprised and unprepared for such a hostile reception.
- Second, there was a sudden recollection of the past.
Joseph remembered his dreams about his brothers. After long years of waiting, finally, Joseph saw the hand of God that day. He saw how God fulfilled before his very eyes the dream that God gave him long time ago.
On the part of Joseph's brothers, they remembered their past offenses. For so long, they carried in their conscience the guilty feeling of what they did against Joseph. The difficulty of their situation caused them to recognize the punishment of God and to blame each other.
- Third, the silver returned.
After that emotional encounter with his brothers, Joseph gave orders to return the silver paid by his brothers together with the grain they purchased. On the way back home, they stopped to take a rest and one of them opened his sack of grain and discovered that his silver had been returned. They were afraid and trembled at the unusual event that had been happening to them. They were trying to figure out the hand of God in such an unusual experience. They were frightened all the more as they arrived home after discovering that all their silver had been returned.
Jacob's children reported their journey to their father.
Upon arrival in Canaan, Jacob's children reported to their father their unusual experience in Egypt. They reported the harsh treatment from an Egyptian official and about the returned silver. Still, they never told their father about what they did to Joseph.
The battle of two wills
Jacob's family is now facing a dilemma. Would Jacob allow his son Benjamin to travel to Egypt to get grain or would they stay in Canaan and starve to death? At first, Jacob insisted that he would not allow to lose Benjamin as what happened to Joseph. Reuben, Jacob's oldest son, on the other hand, was willing to risk the lives of his children just for his father to change his mind. But Jacob's will prevailed, but not for long.
Lessons to Learn
What lessons can we learn from Jacob's family in facing a famine, an economic threat?
- Don't just look at each other.
Do something! In the face of famine, Jacob's children were paralyzed. They didn't know what to do.
Unlike Jacob's children, those who are in charge to address today's problems in global economy and finance are active. Unfortunately, they are active in the wrong way. Or perhaps, the reason why they act like this is because they want to maintain the status quo, to do business as usual, as if nothing bad is happening. Consequently, those in the technology sector aiming to address the problem are considered threats and that's why the solution that those in power see is to formulate more laws and regulations, as if the lack of them is the problem.
The reality is the proposed mainstream solution is more of part of the problem that will aggravate the situation all the more. What we need is for people to gain access to financial resources. And that is why I believe the decentralization of finance is the way to go and will lead to the right direction. This is also the reason that despite my capital limitation, I am doing my best in my own little way to protect my family's finance from what I see as lawful plunder perpetuated by the existing system.
Others who don't see potential in technology to protect one's finance will either run to cash or the precious metals particularly in times of extreme volatility in the market.
On a global scale, nations too want to address problem in currency volatility. It is still fresh in my mind what China did a few years ago to navigate this market uncertainty. They depreciated their currency. As a result of currency depreciation, global markets at that time suffered a severe correction.
Other nations followed suit. They also depreciated their currencies to boost their export. Classical economists describe this type of phenomenon as a "race to the bottom". No one wins in this kind of race. I don't know if the IMF had already come up with a solution to stop such a race. Or perhaps, the so-called "financial reset" would be their solution, proposing a new monetary system.
- Take a risk!
I usually hear people say that cryptocurrency is not only mysterious; it is also risky. Perhaps, these are major reasons why the majority take cryptocurrency for granted. They don't realize that staying in the current system and doing nothing is riskier in the long run.
Generally, when people are afraid of something, they tend to be inactive. It seems that fear has the power to paralyze one's mind and body. It is a common observation that when a person faces an unusual situation, commonly that person doesn't know what to do. He is frozen! Only after returning to his senses that he is prepared to take the necessary action. But usually, the damage has already been done. Nevertheless, it is better to be late than to never take any action at all.
- Reflect on what is going on.
In the light of existing monetary and legal systems that institutionalize theft and immorality, what would you expect? Such practices would never end well. God would not remain silent forever amid rampant violation of his laws. He is still sitting on his throne.
In the Bible, the Jews have this festival called sabbatical year. This is taken from Exodus 23:10-11 where God commanded Israel that after six years of sowing and reaping, the land must rest. The weekly sabbath is based on the same principle where God commanded man to work for six days and rest on the seventh day.
Today, most people are restless. Living in a monetary system that is based on debt, people cannot rest. Everyone appears to be in constant motion just to keep up with the current living standard. Not only individuals but governments and corporations are also under stress due to huge debts. And that is why governments, corporations, and families with huge debts are afraid of increased interest rates. They might default on their payments and this might ripple throughout the economy and we don't know how things will turn out. Interestingly, the idea of Sabbath year became popular among the minority of traders. They call it "Shemitah" and associate it with a market crash and freedom from debts.
Conclusion
An economic crisis exposes that something is not right in our time. We are a generation that not only forgets God, but some are even very confident in their rejection of the existence of God. In man's foolishness, he thinks that he can change God's eternal rule. Nations make laws that are contrary to God's laws. By doing this, nations were digging their graves. Nations who forget God do this. By their actions, they deny that they are but mortal. I think most politicians these days are suffering from a worst kind of forgetfulness and ignorance. They think they are immortal. See how David's warning is appropriate for our time:
You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name forever and ever. . .The Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity. . . The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. . . The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God. . . Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence. Strike them with terror, Lord; let the nations know they are only mortal. - (Psalm 9: 5, 7-8, 15, 17, 19, 20).