8. Where is God When Our Trading Fails?

...I Cried Out to the Lord...

"Staring at the monitor, looking at the charts and the value of your portfolio sinking every second...This can't get any worst. I called out to God...Why?"

 

 

For traders who are Christians and makes their living by trading, does this looks familiar to you? I am very sure at one point of your trading life, you might have wondered if God was ever there whenever you trade. Especially, for those who walked with God closely, serve the Lord as much as they could, tithing and giving offerings with his earnings from the profits of his winning trades. Like most entrepreneur, one of the most trying moments are when everything seems to be pointing south and the strain of looking at the value of your portfolio shrank by half in a matter of seconds and the concerns of providing for your family in the coming days. This toll can cause us into grief and self-doubt.  Many times, testing our faith to the limit. 

 

Although my initial experience in financial trading started off with occasional success, but there are probably more failures then success. There comes to a point when I asked myself, should I give it all up. 

 

Psalms 18:6 says "In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.". 

 

- I called out to God. But nothing change, in fact it got worst. 

 

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". 

 

- But my funds were reduced by more then half of my initial capital. Where is God? Is He for real? 

 

It may sound familiar to some of you. These are the questions and doubts that circles around in our mind during the time of panic and fear. If we fail, not only will we have real worldly consequences, we sometimes feel that we are not able to glorify God in our trading business as the world do not see God in our work.  However, there is this fundamental error in seeing the logic that God sees success the same way we do. Does being an obedient and committed Christian guarantee success in our trading or in everything we do in our life? I do not see any evidence in it but see otherwise instead. We probably experienced more failure then success in life. That does not make God any lesser in our strive to be a successful trader. God need to test our faith occasionally in our walk with Him. What better way to test us then using failures in our life. 

 

As Henry Ford said "Failure is the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently". The reason why God allows failure in our lives is not to break us down, but to provide us opportunities to be broken down and then built us up again into what God intended us to be. Moses did not succeed at the first try in asking Pharaoh to set the Israelites free. He failed nine times before finally Pharaoh agreed to set the Israelites free. 

 

Isaiah 55:8-9 : “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

 

As Christians, we are very often guilty of judging ourselves and others by results rather then by actions. Or at least, most of us are more concern with the results instead of the effort we put in to glorify God. But our definition of failure is probably different from God's. God is more concern about the relationship with Him, our character development, our trust and obedience to Him then the outcome of our effort or the work that He called us to do. The question we should be asking is "Are we wiser after the failure?" For being wise, It has to be in God's perspective. Are we a step closer to what God want us to be? 

 

I know it is hard to embrace failure for I will be lying if I say I can rejoice in every failing trade. But it is through these failures that I became a better trader and through these tests, my faith became stronger. 

 

It is through those failures in my financial trading that I understand God's plan for me. The plan to develop my patience and wait for His timing to enter and exit the market, the plan to teach me the sin of greed through effective money management, the plan to show me His wisdom in understanding through education of the tools I required to learn in order to equip myself in the financial trading battle ground, and most importantly, the plan to build up my faith and trust in Him in every trade I made believing His plans are to prosper me, not to harm me even if the trade is not profitable. His plan is to make me rich, yes, rich in character. His plans to give me hope and a future, a future far beyond my time on earth so that I am ready and developed into someone according to His will. 

Jeremiah 29:11- “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". 

7. Finding God in the Financial Trading Marketplace

Is God working in the financial trading marketplace?

If you have read my first few blogs, I wrote about why trading is not a sinful activity. It seemed like I was just trying to defend my position as a trader.  Don't get me wrong, I was not trying to promote financial trading in any way.  In fact, financial trading is a very a risky business. It is definitely not the most glorified business as far as value added to the society is concern.  The society tends to see financial trading a "a sinful, non-value added" way of earning a living.  Even the idea of giving money profited from trading, to the needy can sometimes seen as "Robin Hood style giving".  The society often see financial trader's method of gaining profit by taking advantage of the financial system and exploiting the weakness of the general public due to the lack of knowledge of the system, "immoral and evil".  When traders give to the needy, they are viewed as "Robin Hood" giving to the poor, especially for those who intentionally trade to give to the poor.

So, let us come back to the basic question..."Is God working in the financial trading marketplace?"

 

There is always a reason and purpose why God placed us in a specific job in a particular time of our life.  Some may be doing something that they like, some may be doing it for money and survival, but ultimately, it is for His purpose as stated in Proverbs 19:21..."Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Surely, God would not be placing a person in a particular job if there is no purpose. In fact, I believe that God has a plan for everyone and everything He created in the universe and the only reason for Him to create all these is to glorify Himself for He is the creator of all things. God has called man and given them the wisdom to create a financial system so as to benefit the world He created. Jeremiah 29:11..."For I know the plans for you," declares the Lord, plans o prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". If God has a hand in the creation of the financial system, then, does not it make sense that God is also working in the financial trading marketplace? 

 

The next logical question most people will ask, "If God is good and He created the financial system for the good of man, then why is there so much sins and evil in the financial world? Why is the money of so many innocent people, especially Christians who committed their lives to Him, lost their investments in the financial system?".

 

A lot of us, especially those who experience the pain and agony of loosing all their life saving overnight in the global financial crises in 2008, found ourselves asking these questions, many doubting the existence of God. Much faith were tested and lost. Firstly, if the purpose of creating the financial system is good and God's purpose of this creation is to glorify Himself, logically, the last thing God would do is to create something that will defeat that purpose.  Secondly. the answer can be found in John 3:19 (NIV)..."This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." or  MSG version says..."God's light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God."  Men and women who were called to serve to create and manage the financial system which is for the good of the people, decided to do it not for God's purpose but for their own gain. 

 

Then why did God allows this to happen?

 

I found a good answer from an article "Why Does God Allow Evil?" written by Rick Warren in his website Daily Hope with Rick Warren on May 21, 2014.  Rick Warren said, the answer lies in what is both our greatest blessing and our worst curse: our capacity to make choices. God has given us the freedom to decide how we will act and the ability to make moral choices. Every one of us is capable of making selfish, self centered or even evil choices...which ends up as sins. Unfortunately, sin always hurt others, not just ourselves.  God could have eliminated all evil from our world by simply removing our ability to choose. But God doesn't want us to be puppet. He wants to be loved and obeyed by creatures who freely, voluntarily choose to love him and each other. Love will not be genuine if people are not given the freedom to choose. So don't blame God for all the bad things that happened to us that are created by men and women by their own choice.

 

Whether is it in church or at home or in the marketplace, God is always working for His purpose. Romans 8:28..."And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.". The truth is God is working amongst us in the financial trading marketplace, but He is asking whether you are willing to join Him in His work for His purpose and for the good of those who love him, who undoubtedly includes you.

 

Romans 8:28..."And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."