The global markets are taking us on a roller coaster ride again, but it's far from being fun. Seas of red, then green, then red again. The Dow plummeting, soaring and crashing again. Investors in Chinese stocks and bonds are on a bungee jump, with no telling if everything will snap back to normal, or just snap.

If you have significant investments in the stock market, perhaps you saw some of your retirement fund losing a big chunk of its value in recent weeks. If you are an investor, gains you worked on for years may have disappeared in just a few days. Surely you are deeply concerned, and following the financial news closely with no small amount of fear.

Clearly, now is the time to do something different: Now it's time to look up to your great-great-great-grandparents.

Think about them for a second. Those people who you never met, don't know what they looked like, or where they lived. But one thing is sure: they had no stocks, futures or bonds, and in order to earn their livelihood they had to work long days out in the field.

They cleared the land meticulously, plowed and sowed the seeds with care. They knew that a good harvest would mean a comfortable year, and maybe they could even store some away for the future, while really bad weather might indicate, G‑d forbid, going hungry, or worse.

They worked hard, but never knew what results their labor would bring. Would it be a rainy year or would drought decimate their fields? When it didn't rain, they would raise their eyes to Heaven and pray to G‑d from the depth of their hearts. And when it did rain, they’d raise their eyes and voices again, overwhelmed with gratitude.

Many things have changed since then. Today, we feel that we can and should be in complete control of our finances and our future. We plan, we rely on our own wisdom as well as our advisers to make investments for the future, and when all goes well we are very proud of our strategic thinking.

And then, in one day, the Chinese stock market crashes, a European country defaults on its debt, and we feel the ground swaying under our feet as if living amidst an earthquake. All of a sudden we feel as vulnerable as our great-great-great-grandfather, as uncertain as our great-great-great-grandmother, not knowing what tomorrow will bring.

These are the moments to follow their example.

Just like them, let's realize that G‑d, and only G‑d, is in control over our financial destiny. It is only He that will decide how much each one of us will earn. Yes, we have to do the sowing and seeding. We need to work hard, do our homework and invest wisely. But at the end of the day, we need to know that it’s out of our hands.

So let's pray.

Let's have faith that this, too, shall pass.

And G‑d willing, when this turbulence will be behind us, let's remember that "it is He who gives you strength to be successful."