If you read or watch the news enough, you will undoubtedly see that we live in a sinful world. There are atrocious sins committed by men to other men. When you see it happen to other people, your heart may break that you may say a prayer. If you were touched enough, you may speak out publicly and donate some funds. But that seems to be the extent of how involved many people may get. However, when life’s trials fall on you or your loved ones, you actually get to feel the pain. No matter how large or small those issues are, you may feel like everything is falling apart when enough of it gets added. So how can you keep faith when everything is falling apart?
What Are Life’s Challenges
What you consider to be life’s challenges may depend on where you currently live in the world and your current standard of living. If you grew up in poverty, what you consider a “life’s challenge” will be different from one who grew up in a middle-class or upper-class society. There is no judgment about the family and part of the world that God has placed you to be in. You never had a choice in the first place who your parents are. This is by no means putting down your issues as “less important” because we are all important to God. But for the purpose of this blog, let me categorize life’s challenges into two.
There are things in life that are inconvenient and downright disastrous. While many may not agree with me, I would argue that something like losing your job is inconvenient. At least in first-world countries like the US, there are other opportunities. In meantime, there is also some form of assistance and other charitable organizations to help in between employment. You may have supportive colleagues, friends, or families that you may turn to for help.
What is disastrous is something like a civil war or war. While we really don’t have control of our life even though we think we do, there is a sense of choice when there is security. Security is a sense of peace that no one will be after your life as you go to sleep. It is knowing that you will wake up the next day and you get to decide what you will do for the day. There is a social contract that everyone will live their own life as they please within the boundaries of existing law. So during war-like times, that security is lacking.
Myanmar in 2021
I had briefly mentioned the Spring Revolution in this post here. Life for Myanmar’s citizens has been permanently disrupted by the events that have taken place since February 2021. While so many hope that a sense of normalcy will resume, it seems that it has only gotten worse. You see so much senseless death of young and old. Millions of people around the world continue to condemn the acts of injustice done to common people who do not have weapons to defend themselves.
Myanmar’s current revolution is one that many other nations have faced. We all have learned of the atrocities the Jewish people suffered in Germany, we read of mass genocide in Cambodia, and we’ve seen the countless civil wars in our history books. But my world has been torn apart because now it is people that I know that are in the lines of death.
I can’t say that everything is falling apart in my life because my life is not on the line to be lost. But the life of those that I love is. My heart is shattered. I don’t know if I have the type of courage to put my life on the line for something I believe in. I question that for my faith too. So I continue to turn to the throne of my Lord and ask, how can I keep faith in You when everything is falling apart?
How To Keep Faith When Everything Is Falling Apart
Read: 1 Samuel 17: 34-36
The first story that jumped out at me was of King David. He has had his share of trial, from the days of being a shepherd to the last days before the Lord took him. David as a youth had to fight off lions and bears to protect his sheep and eventually with the giant Goliath to protect his country. Instead of being rewarded, David then had to face Saul’s jealousy, taking away his life’s security. He was on the run from Saul, fought in wars, and faced many hardships.
When he finally became king, David’s life was still full of challenges. Partly from the result of his own sin with Bethsheba and betrayal from his own flesh, his son Absolom. Before his death, David had to deal with his son Adonijah trying to take the throne from his son Solomon, whom he anointed to be the next king. While this was a quick synopsis of his life, I wonder how many times King David cried out to the Lord in helplessness. During the many long nights, how fearful and anxious did he get when his life was being pursued? So what can we learn from King David say about faith?
Our Greatest Weapon Is The Lord
Read: 1 Samuel 17:40
When David was to face Goliath, he did not take a sword and armor. He took his staff, five smooth stones, and a sling, all inferior to real weapons at the time. But he knew what his real weapon was.
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. - 1 Samuel 17: 45
Life’s challenges can come in many forms. It can be a health issue, for yourself or for your loved ones. It can be a financial disaster or a combination of so many little things that added up. Our worlds can be falling apart but we are not just victims of some unfortunate event. How can we fight back? We fight with our greatest weapon, we go to our heavenly Father on the throne.
We may not be able to “do” anything in our power but our faith and prayer is a weapon. God is moved by faith. In fact, Jesus told us that with faith as small as a mustard seed, we can move a mountain.
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17:20
Know That God Is Always With Us
No matter what is going on in our world, during the best times and the worst times, God is always with us. King David knew that and walked with God through all of his difficult problems.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. - Psalm 139: 7-10
Knowing this truth should not be taken lightly. Think about it, God always being with us means he knows our desires and our needs. He sees what hurts us and what can come from it. And yet, he allowed the situation in which we feel that everything is falling apart to happen. Somehow, in His full knowledge of the world and the inner workings of our hearts, He did not stop the event from taking place.
Read: 2 Samuel 12: 23-38, 2 Samuel 13, 2 Samuel 15
God allowed David to suffer, to run for his life, and lived the pain of his children rape (Amnon and Tamar) and then kill one other (Amnon and Absolom). In case that wasn’t enough, he was betrayed by Absolom, the son he forgave who later tried to take his throne by force. In the midst of each trial, David never stopped speaking to God because God never left his side. He always kept his faith intact, even when everything seemed to be falling apart in his life. In the end, was God’s purpose accomplished in David’s life? It definitely was.
Choose Faith Over Fear
While I thought about more reasons for how we can have faith when everything is falling apart for myself, I realized I had one choice. I can choose to fear, which makes things worse. Or I can choose faith. If God is my greatest weapon when I’m facing trouble and He is always with me, what more can I want? If we lived a life where everything is always good, what do we need God for? In our failures, during our heartaches, through our fears and burdens, God is still sovereign.
What He accomplishes by allowing us to experience this pain during our short life here on earth is something we may not understand yet. We may never understand it in this lifetime. However, faith is something we must choose over and over again. Faith is what pleases our God, who is able to make anything happen within His perfect will.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. - Hebrews 11:6
Let Us Pray
Heavenly Father, thank you for reminding me that You are still God on the throne. Through my failures, through situations that happened to me, and the challenges that I face, it is You know still have sovereignty over it all. Help me to have faith when everything is falling apart, knowing that nothing surprises you. Help me to seek your face instead and allow you to pick the pieces in your will and in your time. In Jesus’ name.