When Black Swans Appear

Don’t lose heart no matter what you see taking place in the world. We have not yet seen God make His most significant move in this generation– a move that will be more impacting than the damage caused by a global black swan event.

Black swan events occur globally and are rare in human history. They appear unexpectedly and without precedent. Typical economic and social models cannot accurately predict their arrival. In the hindsight of history, we will be able to see how and why such events occurred, but not while they were unfolding. When they occur, they have a culture-altering impact. The phrase “black swan event” is a metaphor based on the discovery of black swans in Australia. Their discovery was unexpected and had an enormous impact on the field of zoology.

This past week, due to the collapse of banks both in the United States and now in Europe, the possibility of an economic black swan event is being considered. Along with economic jeopardy, the very real possibility of war with China and Russia is on the table.

Economic black swan events happen when an economic system suppresses risks and creates financial policies that cannot be sustained. This unsustainability is present as our national debt approaches 32 trillion dollars and while we continue to print money out of thin air with no backing apart from a promise. When this takes place, an economic system becomes fragile and vulnerable. It cannot survive. The system may appear to be strong and reliable to the uninformed, but when the tension reaches the breaking point, a collapse will produce a black swan event.

Unimagined black swan events can also occur without warning, bringing down a nation when it is led by morally compromised leaders who resort to war as an economic tool in an attempt to alter the failing trajectory of a nation’s economy. The compromise of these leaders employs the military/industrial complex and related industries to fund their election and sustain them while in office. These leaders embody and model the love of money that exists at the root of all kinds of evil.

When an unexpected black swan event becomes a reality and fear grips a nation, it is then that an undeniable move of God will take place, not possible when people were still living within an isolated and padded bubble of false hope that tells them their financial stability or national invincibility will never be challenged.

When all hope is gone, and a real black swan event wreaks its loveless havoc, the Lord will move suddenly in profound ways that we have not seen nor imagined in our lifetimes. He will not come to restore the systems that led us to a black swan event or follow the kind of leaders who led us to a place of despair. The Lord will come to restore broken and hopeless people, even some who led us to a black swan event, introducing them to the One whose hope never fails and whose truth is the only sure foundation for a nation.

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins

Featured Image by Dorothe Wouters on Unsplash

About the Author

Garris Elkins is a Kingdom Winds Contributor. He and his wife, Jan, serve the global Church through writing, speaking, and mentoring. They live in southern Oregon, tucked away in the foothills of the Rogue Valley. Their shared desire is to have each person learn how to hear the heart of God and become a transforming voice in their culture.

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