How to Trust God in a Chaotic WorldSample

Watching him closely, we see Habakkuk asking with faith for things to change. He believed God was King and, therefore, in charge.

Remember the story of Peter being put in prison in Acts 12? Herod had killed the apostle James to the anguish of the church and the entertainment of the locals. Herod then arrested Peter for his next demonstration of power and to the glee of the people. Injustice? Peter was going to be killed for their pleasure after Passover.

As Peter was in prison, the church was praying fervently for him.

God miraculously freed Peter! He walked out of prison and arrived at the house where the church was praying for him. When he knocked, Rhoda, a servant girl, came to the gate. In her great joy at hearing Peter’s voice, she left Peter—a fugitive who had just escaped death row—outside, exposed. Rhoda tried to convince those inside that Peter was there, but they only questioned her sanity.

The church had prayed with fervor and faithfulness, no doubt, but when the time came to witness their answered prayers, they conjured up all sorts of defenses against the good news that stood right outside the door. They prayed, but without expectation.

We pray, knowing our God is powerful enough to change any circumstance, and we pray expecting him to work. We know he may not work in the ways we foresee, as Habakkuk discovers soon. Still, we look for evil leaders (like Herod) to be thwarted and for the hopeless sufferer (like Peter) to walk free into the arms of the local church who is on their knees.

Lamenting Faith and Jesus Christ

Several centuries after Habakkuk, God, in the incarnation, descended to answer the laments rising up from the world. In the life of Jesus, we saw the Just One. Then, the greatest injustice, the death of the perfectly innocent Son of God in our place, brought hope for healing and full restoration. In his suffering, he bore the penalty for the injustice and then rose from the dead.

If you cry out “how long, oh Lord?” know that it isn’t that God hasn’t done anything, but rather that we are waiting for him to finish what he began in Christ’s death and resurrection. Our “how long until you act” is instead “how much longer until we see your righteous judgment permeate our lives?” That is exactly where he is taking this world.

Lament prepares us for hope in God gathering his people to a place ruled fully by his justice.

Thank you for reading this plan.

It is based on the book, Trembling Faith: How a Distressed Prophet Helps Us Trust God in a Chaotic World(B&H Publishing Group, 2023) by Taylor Turkington.