(Below are thoughts I recorded the day of the Brussels bombings and shared on Facebook.)

We dread days like this.

We turn on the news and hear of another devastating terrorist attack, this one terrorist bombings in Brussels that killed more than thirty people. Our hearts ache as we see the frantic faces of men, women and children running through acrid smoke, trying to find a place of safety.

As I began to pray for those involved and those who are yet to discover that a loved one is gone, the Holy Spirit directed my heart to the book of Habakkuk:

How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen!

“Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save.

Must I forever see these evil deeds?

Why must I watch all this misery?

Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence.

I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight.

The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts.

The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted. (Habakkuk 1:2-4: NLT)

It’s tempting to believe that these words are as true today as they seemed to the prophet Habakkuk thousands of years ago. But as followers of Christ we cannot live there. We must hold onto the Lord’s reply to Habakkuk in the next verse: “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.”

Either God is sovereign or He is not. Either God is completely in control or He is not in control at all.

We have to live differently in these difficult days. We have to live as those who have hope when hope is a rare commodity.

This was the plea of the apostle Peter when he wrote: “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:14: ESV)

These days could be the Church’s finest hour if we will rise up with love and mercy, faith and hope, courage and gentleness.

We’ll pray, we will weep with those who weep but we will not give into despair because God is on the throne and we are His signature of radical love in this world until He comes again.