Every time I open the news I end up frightened about where the world is heading. I cannot look away and I cannot cope with looking. What do I do with that dread?

“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

Habakkuk spent two chapters arguing with God about violence and injustice going unanswered, and he never receives the tidy explanation he asked for. What he arrives at instead is a decision made with his eyes open: even if the crops fail and the livestock are gone, he will still rejoice. This is not optimism about the harvest. It is a joy that has been deliberately detached from whether the news is good.

“But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.”

Jesus is speaking about wars, upheaval, and the destruction of the temple itself, and his instruction to people who will hear of these things is not to be terrified. He does not soften what is coming or promise his followers will be spared the turbulence. He tells them what to do with their hearts while it happens. That is a very different kind of comfort from being told everything will be fine.