October 29 | Moments Almanac | Crash
On October 29, 1929, Wall Street collapsed, fortunes vanished, and the world entered a season of uncertainty. Black Tuesday exposed just how quickly the things we trust can disappear.
Nearly two thousand years earlier, Jesus told a parable about a wealthy farmer who had everything he needed for tomorrow—except the promise of tomorrow itself.
In this episode of Moments Almanac, we revisit Black Tuesday, the parable of the rich fool, and the timeless words of an old hymn: “On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”
When everything else falls, what are you standing on?
Welcome to Moments Almanac for October 29th. And on this day in 1929, the world watched its wealth disappear. They called it Black Tuesday. More than 16 million shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged nearly 12%. Fortunes evaporated, dreams collapsed, and the roaring twenties came to a screeching halt. Behind those numbers were ordinary people, families who had saved for years, workers who believed their jobs were secure, investors who had mistaken a rising market for a permanent promise. And suddenly, well, the future didn't look quite so certain. The Great Depression would unfold over the years that followed, bringing unemployment, bank failures, and hardship to millions. But nearly 2,000 years earlier, Jesus told a story about another man who thought his future was secure. He was a farmer, a successful one. His fields produced more than his barns could hold. So he made a plan to tear down those old barns and build bigger ones. And then he said to himself, I'm gonna take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry. He had calculated his harvest, he had counted his possessions, planned his retirement, and there was only one thing he hadn't considered. He wasn't guaranteed another sunrise. God interrupted his retirement plans with these sobering words You fool this very night your life will be demanded from you. The man had planned for everything except eternity. He had plenty stored away, but nothing to stand on. And that's the lesson of Black Tuesday. There is nothing wrong with saving, investing, and planning for tomorrow. Scripture even commends wisdom and preparation, but there's something terribly fragile about building our hopes on things that can disappear before tomorrow arrives. Money can provide comfort, but it can't promise peace. A full bank account can help us sleep at night, but it will not guarantee we'll wake up in the morning. The old hymn reminds us my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, and then comes that wonderful declaration on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. The stock market may rise tomorrow, it may fall. Our barns may be full, they may be empty. And maybe the greatest tragedy isn't losing what we've accumulated, it's discovering too late that we've been trusting it to hold us up. So here's the question Black Tuesday leaves us with.
