The best time to buy stocks is also the most difficult. It takes guts to invest in a bear market (a down market), but savvy investors find bargains on some solid stocks and buy even when everyone else is selling. And when the market comes back, they’re poised to do very well in their investment.

Jeremiah wasn’t dealing stock, but he did once offer a plot of land at the worst possible time. The armies of Babylon were besieging Jerusalem and would soon capture and burn the city. But even though the immediate future was gloomy, God told Jeremiah to buy the field as a sign that “someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields” (32:15).

Judah, in the short-term, would suffer many bumps in the road, but her end was guaranteed. God promised Jeremiah that He would bring His people back to this once proud city, where they would “live in peace and safety” (32:37) as the children of God. Believing that God would “faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land” (v.41), Jeremiah paid 17 pieces of silver for the field (v.9). By doing so, he showed his confidence in the promises of God. God has promised that our entire world will “become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ” (Revelation 11:15). If we believe that, we will confidently expend our lives for Jesus even when things seem bleak.

We reflect this long-term kingdom view when we joyfully obey our Lord and love our neighbor as ourselves: offering customers only the deals they can afford, keeping our word when it hurts, investing our time and money in those who are in need, disciplining our children with calm patience and praying more—not less—when evil appears to be gaining ground.