Confidence and Hope In Our Confusing World
The apostle John records these words of Jesus in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation.” Surely, there isn’t one of us who hasn’t felt the impact of that reality in the last few days. What in the world is going on? Why do you allow such evil, Lord? How long, Lord, how long?
I remember asking these same questions in 1995, when many were killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. And asking them again four years later when we got news of Columbine. Then there was 9/11 and then, and then, and then. Will it never end? Atrocities in faraway places and brutality on the streets of our own city, pandemics and personal tragedies, all cause us to wonder and question, to the point of losing our confidence and hope. At times like these, I am comforted when I read that the psalmist wondered why his heart was downcast and concluded that he must put his hope in God. (Psalms 42 & 43) And even Jesus asked why God, his Father, had abandoned him on the cross. (Matthew 27:46)
But when I get really discouraged and don’t understand what in the world is going on, no one helps me more than the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk was a man who was not afraid to ask the hard questions. The questions he asked were not merely intellectual exercises or bitter complaints. Habakkuk saw a dying world, and it broke his heart and he wanted to know how long this terrible mess of a world was going to last. (Habakkuk 1:2) He wanted to know why it seemed God was just standing idly by watching all these bad things happen. (Habakkuk 1:3; 13)
God answered Habakkuk’s questions and God answers our questions. However, the answer may be somewhat surprising. While other prophetic books bring God’s word to the people, Habakkuk’s book brings the prophet’s (and our) questions to God. Habakkuk pulls the curtain back for us and records the dialogue he has with God, which reveals God’s unexpected response.
Habakkuk lived at a time of fear, oppression, persecution, lawlessness, and immorality and he could not understand why God seemed to do nothing about the wickedness around him.
God responded to Habakkuk’s questions and concerns by saying this,
“Look among the nations and see; wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.” (Habakkuk 1:5)
Does that not take your breath away? It should! God is God and he is at work doing things that even if he told us all he is doing, we wouldn’t believe it!
Oh, how evil and injustice seem to have the upper hand today. Like Habakkuk, we can get so discouraged and even angry as we try to absorb all that has happened and is happening, right up to this very day. But be encouraged, like Habakkuk, you and I can ask the “why” question. We can ask God, “How much longer?” And God will answer us the same way he answered Habakkuk. He is telling us, through the prophet Habakkuk, to be confident that he is at work doing unbelievable things!
Habakkuk had to get to the point of trusting God completely. And so do we. To trust God fully, means to trust him even when we don’t understand why events occur as they do or how long they will last. We believe that God is trustworthy and knows what he’s doing.
Crop failure and the death of animals would devastate Judah. But Habakkuk affirmed that even in the time of starvation and loss, he would still rejoice in the Lord. Habakkuk’s feelings were not controlled by the events around him, but by faith in God’s ability to give him strength.
“I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.” Habakkuk 3:16-19
When nothing makes sense, and when troubles seem more than you can bear, remember God is at work. Knowing this reality gives us confidence and hope.
At the proper time, God will bring about his justice and completely rid the world of evil. In the meantime, we must live in the strength of his Spirit, confident in his ultimate victory over evil. And we must make a concerted effort to rejoice in the Lord.
God is alive and in control of the world and its events. We cannot see all that he is doing, and we cannot see all the he will do. But we can be assured that he is God and will do what is right.
Going back to the words of Jesus in John 16, we are reminded that the world is a troubling place, full of tribulation. But Jesus doesn’t leave us with that thought. He says, “… take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
God is at work. Jesus is real. Knowing these truths gives us confidence and hope in a confusing world. Rejoice!