2010 – May 23 – Securities and Trust

Study from God’s Word… Many Proverbs listed in The Daily Bible in Chronological Order from Proverbs 3, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, and 29, ordered by topics by the Editor, including Wealth/Poverty, Benevolence/Generosity, Oppression of the Poor, Industriousness, Conversation, and Surety for Another … Passage for Reflection: Proverbs 18: 11… NIV The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall. Prov. 18: 11 … NKJV … 11 Rich people trust their wealth to protect them. They think it is like the high walls of a city.

My Journal for Today: Dr. Smith, my devotional shepherd, asks the probing personal question at the end of his entry for today, “If I’m being completely honest, in what seemingly unscalable walls do I trust for my security?” And I immediately, from the truth of God’s word, which wells up from my memory of what God’s word says, I recall Proverbs 3: 5-6 and also Prov. 3: 9-10. I hope you know what those say to our minds, hearts, and lives. But if not, I charge you now to go and find, read, and meditate on these truths, which were included in the Proverbs I was led to read this morning from the passages Dr. Smith led me into in his edited version of The Bible in Chronological Order.

And Dr. Smith this morning also points to an interesting, almost comical, irony when we consider that stocks and bonds, the financial entities into which so many of us invest so much of our lives, are ironically called “securities.” And given what is happening in the stock market these days, do you really have a lot of “security” in these stocks and bonds? And when you read this morning’s highlighted verse in Proverb 18: 11, don’t you just love the name of the human institution where we trade our “securities.” We call it “Wall Street.” And remembering the world bending “crash of 1929,” and seeing where “Wall Street” is headed right now, are we ever going to get the picture that the walls of “Wall Street” are not secure? We may put “In God We Trust” on all our coins; but when will we learn that motto in real life; and when will we learn that we can never put any degree of life-saving trust in the coins which bear this motto?

If we put our trust on any institution or entity which we believe has impenetrable walls to protect us, we could be headed toward a monumental crash. The citizens of Jericho built great walls to protect themselves; and those walls came tumbling down before God. Many people put their trust in their walled cities of education, science, or political institutions; and don’t we really see how shaky those walls will be before the same God Who is the source of the knowledge which built those walled cities? There is only one great “Wall Street”; and it is in Him where we must invest our “securities” of Spiritual surrender. And it is only when we quit trying to trust worldly “Wall Streets” and give our lives over to the One Who is our only real “Security” can we expect to find real protection and peace in this life.

So, answer with me the pertinent and poignant question, “Where do I find my “securities;” and where is my ultimate “Wall Street?”

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I am surrendered to You as my “Wall Street” of life, here and in Heaven. Amen