What If Everything Collapsed Around You?
In normal day-to-day living, some days are worse than others. But then there is that one day when, possibly out of nowhere, your world collapses around you. The worst thing you could imagine happens. What once was a manageable life now seems as if the wheels have fallen off. Everything around you seems in shambles. If someone were to tell you what was going to happen, you would not believe it. Yet, it has. For all of us, we consider this question, “What if everything collapsed around you?”
We Find This Case in the Bible
We turn to our trusted friend from the Old Testament to help us think through this issue. God tells Habakkuk:
Look among the nations and watch—
Be utterly astounded!
For I will work a work in your days
Which you would not believe, though it were told you. (Habakkuk 1:5)
No one wants this message from God. Who wants to hear that everything will collapse around them? No one. If God is going to do a great work, we would wish for Him to do a fun, great, mighty, prosperous, amazing thing. Yet, God tells Habakkuk the exact opposite is going to happen.
Habakkuk responds:
Are You not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O Lord, You have appointed them for judgment;
O Rock, You have marked them for correction.
You are of purer eyes than to behold evil,
And cannot look on wickedness.
Why do You look on those who deal treacherously,
And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours
A person more righteous than he?
Why do You make men like fish of the sea,
Like creeping things that have no ruler over them? (Habakkuk 1:12-14)
Essentially he asks God how it is even possible for Him to allow these things to happen. He does not understand.
Yet, over the the next two chapters, after listening to God, Habakkuk remembers God is the God of creation, the sovereign in the universe, and the significance of the work God is doing, even in the midst of a very broken world.
Habakkuk’s Conclusion
Habakkuk responds to God’s plan—even when the world is falling apart around him.
He begins by asking God to revive His work and to help Habakkuk in his response (vv. 1-2). He then praises God for His power and plan (vv. 3-15). Finally, he responds with his own statement of satisfaction about who God is and what God does. In other words, he tells God how he will respond as his world collapses around him.
Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may 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.
The Lord God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
Look at what Habakkuk describes: No figs. No fruit on the vines. Olives gone. No food in the fields. Flocks gone. Herds disappeared. Everything gone. Everything changed. His world collapses around him.
Yet, he says, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”
Habakkuk looks to God even when his world is collapsing and trusts God’s character. He knows that the Lord God is his strength. Habakkuk knows the Lord will help him, and he will make it because of Him.
What about Your World?
Whatever is going on in your world today, know that God has not changed. God remains sovereign. Your suffering and sorrow fit inside God’s greater plan of good for you and for our world. Today’s circumstances are not the final ones. We look forward to the day when there will be no more pain. There will be no more tears.
We ask God to revive His work in us. We ask God to please put together the pieces.
Further, we recognize God’s power and ability. We know that He can do a mighty work.
Plus, we commit to following Him through it all as we depend upon God’s strength. The Lord God is our strength. We trust and depend upon Him.
This blog was originally posted on KevinCarson.com.