Trusting God to Work Things Together for Good
Austin Pryor
Sound Mind Investing
I have concluded that I have very little ability
to discern what is valuable in life and what isn't.
I don't always see clearly which experiences are
blessings and which ones do me harm. In fact,
it's probably safe to say that I really don't
even know — with complete certainty — what I
truly want. That being the case, one of the most
exciting steps I can take is to pray and ask God
for things. I neither know which requests He'll
grant, nor have the slightest insight into how
He'll work through circumstances in granting
those requests He does. But, in my experience,
it's often been in the most improbable and unexpected ways.
At least, that was the case when God took me
through a financial wilderness — a trip that
began in 1985 and was to last for seven years.
The story begins back in 1979 when a friend and I
launched an investment-advisory business. After
more than five years of hard work, we had built
our business from scratch to what could fairly be
called a "successful" level. Our investment
performance results had frequently placed in the
top 5% among advisers nationwide. Money goes
where it's treated best, and we had attracted
enough clients to the point that we were both
taking home six-figure incomes. Plus, I still had
time for my ministry interests.
All in all, things were working out pretty well.
Then, I entered a period where I seemed to have
the reverse Midas touch. In about a three-year
span, my financial roof fell in thanks to a
variety of unrelated events: a home that took
three years to sell, unprecedented losses in my
personal futures trading account, and a costly
business venture in South Carolina, to name a few.
The summer of 1987 was the worst period of my
business life. In April, with the Dow around
2300, we had sold all stock funds and placed our
clients 100% into money market funds. We did this
because we felt the market had risen too far, too
fast. The environment had become one of high
risk. As the Dow continued to make new highs over
the summer months (and everybody "knew" it was
going to 3000), we began losing clients to other
firms who had no such reservations about risk.
Our warnings to our departing clients fell on
deaf ears. I'm sure many felt we were out of
touch with the realities of the market.
In truth, they and their new money managers were
the ones out of touch, as the October crash
violently demonstrated. In a single day, the Dow
Jones dropped more than 23%, and it did not
recover to its former level for two years. The
crash vindicated our caution, but it was too late
to stabilize our client base. The defections
dealt a major blow to our company and required my
partner and me to take drastic salary cuts and
make other expense-related adjustments.
So there I was, facing substantial business and
personal financial pressures that I would never
have dreamed of a few years earlier. And I was
asking, "Lord, why is this happening to me? I
travel and speak in Your name. I work for Your
kingdom and give diligently to Your causes. How
come You're treating me like this? Please let me
know that You're still here with me."
A Word from the Lord
You know what the Lord said to me? Nothing.
I've never heard from the Lord directly in all my
life. I know some people who have, but I never
have. However, the Lord does speak to me by
giving me ideas and impressions as I read and
meditate in His Word. A passage that was very
encouraging to me during this time was Jeremiah
29:10-14. God was revealing to the Israelites why
they were having the excruciating experience of
being taken as slaves into the Babylonian captivity.
10This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years
are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and
fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to
this place. 11For 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. 12Then you will call upon me and come and
pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will
seek me and find me when you seek me with all
your heart. 14I will be found by you," declares
the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity."
Here are the encouraging truths I found in these verses:
* Trials eventually come to an end, and God
can be absolutely counted upon to fulfill His promises (verse 10).
* God is still thinking about us, even when
we're feeling lonely in our trials (verse 11). He
is listening to our heartfelt prayers (verse 12).
* The only thoughts that God has toward us
are thoughts of peace that include a future that
is hopeful and good (verse 11).
* God allows our trials to come because they
are necessary to accomplish His purpose in our lives (verse 11).
* God's purpose is that we would seek Him (verse 13).
* God allows Himself to be found when we
search for Him with all our heart. He purposes to
ultimately bring about our restoration (verses 13-14).
In this passage, the Israelites have been removed
from their land and torn from their possessions,
yet God does not tell them to seek the
restoration of their land. He does not tell them
to seek their possessions. He does not tell them
to seek their freedom. He tells them to seek but
one thing — Himself. And one way that God has of
causing us to seek Him wholeheartedly is by
allowing us to lose those other things that we highly prize.
So I knew I needed to seek God, be patient, and
wait. I wanted to please God; I wanted to trust
God. But the circumstances around me were so
utterly discouraging. It's not always easy to
expect the best and believe that everything will
work out for our good. To the Israelites in
exile, 70 years must have seemed like an
eternity, and three years can seem like seventy when you're badly hurting.
During this time, I discovered what it means to
give to God out of my poverty rather than out of
my surplus. In the 1970s, Susie and I had
volunteered two years of our lives to a form of
missionary service. But the gift of those two
years in the 1970s paled in comparison to the
effort of even one week of walking with God
during the tough times in the 1980s and saying to
Him, "I still love You. I still trust You. I am
not complaining. I am doing the very best I can
to believe You are working everything out together for my good."
The two years were given when I was on top and
life was good; each week was given when I was on
the bottom and circumstances were bleak. In a
fashion similar to the widow and her mite, I
believe a single week of "hoping against hope"
can be more pleasing and glorifying to God than a two-year missionary journey.
As I began to gain an insight into this, I found
myself uplifted. Trials are all the more
difficult if they seem to be needless or a waste.
Once you begin to see that they are purposeful,
it's a great thing because then you know that (1)
they will come to an end when the purpose is
accomplished, (2) you will somehow, in some way,
have gained something of great value, and (3) you
will have glorified God by trusting Him and giving Him time to work.
As I sought the Lord during those days, I opened
my heart to whatever He had purposed for me. I
had previously assumed I would continue in the
investment advisory profession for the remainder
of my career; now I wasn't so sure. Perhaps the
Lord was using these difficult circumstances to
change the direction of my working life. As long
as I was financially comfortable and had a large
client base, why would I consider anything else?
So, just in case this was part of the agenda, I
surrendered to the Lord all aspects of my
professional life. If He wanted to rebuild my
company, that would be fine. If He wanted me to
take a job working for someone else, that would
be fine. If He wanted me to leave the business
world and go back into full-time ministry work, that would be fine.
I was finally in the best place for a child of
God to be: "Whatever You want, Lord, before You
even reveal it, the answer is yes." I added a
little P.S. "If You think it would be OK, I'd
like work that's mentally challenging,
emotionally satisfying, and which somehow involves a ministry to people."
The answer came unexpectedly (and unrecognized by
me at the time) in October of 1989. I was having
lunch with my longtime friend Larry Burkett. As
we discussed the financial challenges facing the
average Christian family, Larry felt what was
lacking was a certain kind of monthly investment
newsletter with a truly Christian perspective. He
said there was a great need for a reliable source
of information, written with easy-to-understand,
"user-friendly" wording, which would guide
readers through the investment process
step-by-step with instruction and counsel from a
biblical perspective. It would help Christians
make the varied and often complex investment
decisions they face, as well as continually
attempt to help its readers "renew their minds" with God's principles.
My initial response was, "You're right. Sounds
great — too bad nobody's doing anything like
that." It didn't occur to me that I should
undertake the task — after all, I was an
investment manager, not a writer or publisher.
But as the weeks passed, the Lord kept bringing
me back to Larry's comments. The number of
investment services and products being offered
today is mind-numbing in their variety. It's easy
to feel overwhelmed. So I began to pray. Though I
agreed Larry had put his finger on a real need, I
wondered whether I should be the one to attempt to meet it.
I began to pray for wisdom: "Lord, do You want me
to try to do this? Well, it would certainly be
mentally challenging — I don';t have much
experience as a writer and none as a publisher.
If I could succeed in encouraging my readers, it
would be emotionally satisfying because I know
from my own experience how important
encouragement is in sustaining our hope during
the tough times. And to the extent Christians get
their finances and investments straightened out
and give more to Your work, it would certainly
have a ministry component. But Lord, I don't have
the experience or the start-up money or the
wisdom to pull this off — I'd have to depend totally on You. Hmmm. . . .
After many other closed doors and much prayer,
Susie and I felt the Lord was indeed
orchestrating events so that I would begin moving
in that direction. At a time when I was wondering
if I should go into publishing, it "just
happened" that Doug and Gena Cobb, two of our
best friends, had built a successful publishing
business centered on a lineup of monthly computer
software journals. Their company was the national
leader in its field. Their counsel and prayers
were invaluable. The first Sound Mind Investing
newsletter was issued in July 1990.
Nearly 20 years have now come and gone since the
day I bravely had 500 copies of the first issue
printed. The start-up phase was physically
demanding, financially unprofitable, but
spiritually fulfilling. The way in which events
have unfolded have reminded Susie and me on
several occasions that our God "is able to [carry
out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over
and above all that we [dare] ask or think ⺷
infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires,
thoughts, hopes or dreams — To Him be glory in
the church and in Chhrist Jesus throughout all
generations, for ever and ever" (Ephesians 3:20-21, Amplified).
God is a loving Father to His children. If you're
facing challenges, financial or otherwise, He can
help you just as He helped me. Trust Him.
The story is told of the young Christian student
who was distraught because of an argument he had
with his girlfriend. He made an appointment to
see the youth minister of his church for advice.
When he arrived, his wise friend began their meeting with this prayer:
"Dear God of creation, who created the universe
from nothing, scattered billions of stars at a
mere word, engineered every favorable condition
necessary to support life on this blue planet,
populated the oceans and the lands with creatures
of unimaginable variety and complexity and made man their master . . ."
"God of Moses, who turned the mighty Nile into a
river of blood, sent hordes of frogs, swarms of
lice and flies, a plague of disease and boils,
devastating hail, locusts that covered the sky,
and the death of Egypt's firstborn in order to
answer the prayers of his people for freedom. . . "
"God of the disciples, who on Pentecost received
Your power, spoke in other languages so 3,000
were baptized on one day, and then turned the
world upside down for Christ . . . "
"Father of Jesus, who made the blind see, the
lame walk, lepers whole and the dead to rise, and
gave His life to rescue those who were hopelessly
dead in sin and made them alive to righteousness and eternal life . . . "
"God of creation, God of history, God of the
Bible, God Almighty . . . could You possibly be
of some help with this young man's girlfriend? Amen."
When I heard this story, I couldn't help but
smile. How like that young student I can be.
Stopping for a moment to reflect on God's
sovereign power — and His promise to use it
always for my good if II'll put my trust in Him —
puts my daily concerns into a whole new perspective.
In truth, my problems are so small, so
transitory. And God is so big, bigger than I can
possibly imagine. Surely, I trust Him for too
little. Perhaps you do, too. If the youth
minister had been praying for your concerns, how
would he have closed his prayer?
* ". . . could You possibly show this couple
how to get out of debt and save for the future as Your word commends?
* ". . . could You possibly lead this man to
a job that would be a better fit for the way
You've made him and for the financial and family needs that he has?"
* ". . . could You possibly help this widow
to make wise investing decisions as she seeks to
be a good steward of Your wealth?"
* ". . . could You possibly show this family
how they can give even more to take the saving
message of Christ to those who have never heard?"
Could He possibly? We know the answer is, "Of
course!" He is the One about whom Jesus said
"with God all things are possible" (Matthew
19:26). Our part is to trust Him. We have it on
the highest authority that "Everything is
possible for him who believes" (Mark 9:23). And
again, "If you have faith as small as a mustard
seed . . . Nothing will be impossible for you"
(Matthew 17:20). There is one exception, however,
one thing that God has declared is impossible for
us: "And without faith it is impossible to please
God, because anyone who comes to him must believe
that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).
So let us seek Him, trusting Him to deliver us
through the difficulties of life, remembering
that we pray to a God who is too strong to ever
lose control of any situation, too wise to ever
make a mistake, and too loving to ever abandon
us. Just the kind of God we need.
Published February 25, 2009
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