How to Trust God in a Chaotic WorldSample

It’s easier to leave injustice in our blind spot. This is especially true when injustice is being done to those with different life experiences than our own, or we cannot see beyond our own suffering.

Yet, misuse of power and corruption are alive and kicking, and more are enslaved worldwide today than ever before. When we pay attention, we see the children without families and the desperate refugees searching for safety.

There may be three women in your small group whose husbands just left them. Your neighbor may face prejudice on a weekly basis for his ethnicity. Your friend’s children may struggle with anxiety from bullying that shouldn’t be theirs. God sees the injustice on the grand stage and in small corners—he does not look away. And you know what? He asks his people to do the same.

The call of the prophets begging God to act shifts in the New Testament. God has already come in Jesus Christ and continues to work through his Spirit. So now, we read the exhortation for God’s people to be alert and ready. We must pay attention to what is happening around us and to God’s work in the world.

Lament

Lament reveals that we’ve paid attention. It either leaks or gushes heartbreak, questioning, or fear. The pleas disrupt the guise of ease and happiness in the godly life and reveal pain with which each of us wrestles. It’s lived-out authentic faith, shedding light on hurt, giving words to grief.

Following Habakkuk’s example means we pray with the range of emotions we see in Scripture, many of which are not evident in the examples in social media stories or inspirational, self-help books. We pray with outrage, disgust, and urgency.

Lamenting like this forms us. It means that we, like David, can begin with “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?” and end with “But I have trusted in your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in your deliverance. I will sing to the Lord because he has treated me generously.” (Ps. 13:1a,5-6) He is imploring “Stop, and stop now, God” when he says “How long, Lord.” David expresses real anxiety, agony, and defeat—and yet still concludes that the covenant God will keep his faithful love to him.

Habakkuk’s prayer gives us permission to lament together, as the church. This can feel strange because I have had people in power manipulate and mock me, but never had to worry about abuse that hurt my body nor took the roof from my head. This is not true for all our brothers and sisters. When we speak of lament for injustice in this world, I, along with many in our churches, must see that we do not bear the brunt of it.

So, we shake off our pain-averse hesitations and lament together, for the evil others live under. Habakkuk doesn’t ask God to stop the terror for his own sake; he speaks of what he sees happening to God’s people around him. So must we.