What to Do When the World Falls Apart: A Guide to Hope

If you selected to read this article, it’s probably because the title felt relevant to you. Every bone in my body wishes an article on the world falling apart would be utterly irrelevant. And yet, here we are.

Ask someone 20 years ago what the future would look like, and they might paint a picture of robot assistants, towering buildings, and flying cars. Ask someone today what the future will look like, and you might get a post-apocalyptic landscape of bomb shells, empty food stores, government collapse, and total anarchy. I would bet most of us have even wondered how much time humanity has left to live.

I’m typically not a doom-and-gloom kind of guy, but at the same time, I can understand the motive behind it. Fear and uncertainty grip us like a stubborn cold. With the rising tide of violence, ongoing wars, political unrest, economic stresses, and environmental concerns, we face real threats today, and we anticipate many more looming on the horizon. How should Christians respond when the world around us is falling apart?

Finding Hope in History’s Chaos

An article on the world falling apart is not just relevant for today. In many ways, it always has been. Every generation of faithful believers, from Abraham to the present, has faced the reality that we live in a broken, unstable world.

Are things worse than they’ve ever been? Compared to the wars and captivities in Old Testament times, the oppressions and revolts in New Testament times, the collapse of the Roman empire, the Black Death, two world wars, evil regimes, famines, plagues, political upheavals, and countless other devastating events in human history, I’m hesitant to say so.

This isn’t to downplay the felt problems of our present moment, or to say things won’t get worse. But I am saying this: As Christians, we are not untethered from a rich history of wisdom from faithful believers who lived before us in chaotic times. As you will soon see, by looking into our past, we will be able to look into the future.

A Biblical Perspective on Fear: The Story of Elisha

Imagine living as an Israelite in the 9th century B.C., when the mighty Syrians waged war against your cities. One day, you wake up to find a massive army surrounding your small city. There is no escape, and as far as anyone in the city knows, their world is about to end. Welcome to 2 Kings 6.

Reading this story, we find a fascinating exchange between the prophet Elisha and his servant. It says in verses 15–16, “When the servant of [Elisha] got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?’ the servant asked. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’”

Seeing Beyond the Immediate Threat

Who are the people “who are with us” Elisha referred to, and why wasn’t his servant aware of this? We find out in the next verse. Elisha prays to God to open the servant’s eyes, and suddenly he sees horses and chariots of fire on the hillside—angelic warriors to defend Elisha and God’s people.

This is one of many examples where, in the midst of chaos, we fail to see the bigger realities of God. Fear has a way of doing that. Although our problems are not the same as Elisha’s, our solutions are. We need to expand our vision. We have a God who spoke the universe into existence by his voice, a God who led the Israelites out of Egypt, and a God who raised Jesus back from the dead. Scripture repeatedly calls God the “Lord of Hosts,” referring to our God’s command over his heavenly armies. He is good, faithful, powerful, and nothing catches him by surprise.

Choosing Your Reality: Fear vs. Faith

“Sure, but let’s be real,” you might say. Perhaps you could generate a long list of examples of terrible things happening in our world. Those are real problems, ones we can’t gloss over with a nice Bible devotional.

Real? Hebrews 1:3 says that God upholds the universe by the word of His power! Is that not also real?

The fact is, there are both troubling and encouraging realities in our world. The question, then, is which realities do you believe are greater, and which ones do you choose to set your mind to?

In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul tells us that we are children of the light, not children of darkness. We think differently from those who have no hope. Our command, then, is to live accordingly, “wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation. For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever” (1 Thessalonians 5:9–10).

When you read the lineup of faithful individuals throughout Biblical history in Hebrews 11, you’ll find that faith is a forward-looking trust in the promises of God and a posture of obedience. This trust comes from witnessing God continually show his power over darkness in our lives, and in the lives of those who came before us. That’s a big reason why the author of Hebrews was inspired to walk us through the faith-filled history of God’s people.

How to Move Forward with Hope

We have found that when the world falls apart, we may be tempted to shrink back in fear and anxiety. Our response is to fix our attention on the greater realities of God.

By all means, let’s get involved to care for this generation and its future in practical ways. We should be good stewards of this planet and of the powers we have with God to bring healing. But at the core of our motivation should be a rock-solid conviction in the assurance of our God.

This is not just a motivational pep talk to make us feel better about ourselves as we go about our day. God calls us to a life of faith and trust. The encouragement from Scripture is the food we need to be grounded in our faith that we might live obediently in that way. And if faith truly comes from hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17), then perhaps we should spend less time scrolling and more time with God and Scripture. Let us also remember those who came before us as we seek to continue their legacy, focusing on gratitude toward God while trusting Him as we share with others the story of a God who remains steady in a world that isn’t. Then we will be ready to respond as the righteous ones in Psalm 112:7, which declares,

They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

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