Peaceful landscape with dramatic skies representing finding rest amid unrest

I don’t think I’ve experienced as extreme a set of emotions as I have in the present time. The events happening around me are so unbelievable, so extreme and so shocking! When the social and moral fabric of a nation is ripping apart right in front your eyes, how do you cope?

Now I know that throughout history, people have experienced this kind of thing many times, so what my country is facing is not unique or terribly shocking per se (though it should be. Every time.)

Yet, my brain says, “this can’t be real, can it?”

I think disbelief is a coping mechanism that God put in us, so that we don’t go completely insane! We reject the notion of something extreme and traumatising by numbing ourselves temporarily in order to minimise the emotional and psychological impact of a traumatic situation.

Between doom scrolling, the algorithm sending me ‘similar’ posts and busy people forwarding real and fake information on chats, the better part of my prayer this year (2026) has been asking God:
✓ Give me strength.
✓ Help me to understand.
✓ Why is this happening?
✓ When will your justice come?
✓ Please teach me the right attitude.
✓ Why God, WHY?!
✓ Make it make sense.
✓ I feel helpless!
✓ Let me not forget that you’re in charge
✓ Is there any hope?
✓ Can things get better after this?

Honestly, with the things happening in this country that I call my country, it’s not a stretch to think that our situation is similar to what the people of Judah faced during the reign of King Hezekiah as recounted in 2 Kings 18 and 19. I’m grateful to God for highlighting this to me one morning this week.

When the World Feels Like It’s Falling Apart

During a national emergency, when Judah was surrounded by 185,000 Assyrians, Hezekiah begs God for help.

Picturing how he brings his stress to God really paints a picture of someone who knows in his heart that the God he trusts is alive, real and a true help in times of trouble. He spreads out the threatening letters sent to him from the enemy king and prays to God. This to me felt like a conversation I would have with someone I feel comfortable with and am sure I can pour my heart out to while sifting through the pages of my file of problems. Someone to whom I can ugly cry, let the full range of my emotions be seen, be dramatic with and make desperate requests to, fully knowing that they have the capability to deal with me and give me what I need. I think that’s what God wanted me to do too! It’s what He wants us all to do – honestly pour our hearts out to him and tell him what’s going on.

I love Hezekiah’s prayer to God and I imagine that anyone in trouble could paraphrase it according to what they are going through. Here’s what he prayed:

“O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.”

“It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”
2 Kings 19: 14 – 19 NLT

True enough, God hears his prayer and answers him through the prophet Isaiah, and ooof! What an answer! Honestly, God flexing old testament style gives me goosebumps! So magnificent and so just. In His answer in 2 Kings 19: 20 – 34, God points out who is boss. Thirteen verses that would frighten the socks off anyone who thinks that they are greater than God. Imagine hearing God say to you, “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It was the Holy One of Israel!”

When you have 185,000 problems bearing down on you, and you know there is only one person who has the solution, you tear off your fancy clothes, wear sack and get on your knees! This is what the King of Judah did and this is what we are called to do now, as Indians in this time of great suffering.

God tells Hezekiah, “For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it.” v34. Somewhere in the middle of all this, the Sons of Korah, aka the worship team of the day, gave us Psalm 46.

Today, Psalm 46 is the rest I needed amidst the unrest on loop in my head!
It’s a Psalm we memorised as children.

A short but powerful song sung in ancient times of unrest. For all of Judah, this song must have been trending, given the circumstances they were in and what had recently happened to the Kingdom of Israel.

My Bible says that it was to be sung in soprano voices. So a high octave, almost angelic sound that the worship band was singing in the Temple and I imagine the people were humming as they caught a few lines and took it with them as they went about their day-to-day.

Psalms 46

New Living Translation

For the choir director: A song of the descendants of Korah, to be sung by soprano voices.

1 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.
3 Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!
Interlude

4 A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High.
5 God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it.
6 The nations are in chaos, and their kingdoms crumble! God’s voice thunders, and the earth melts!
7 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.
Interlude

8 Come, see the glorious works of the Lord: See how he brings destruction upon the world.
9 He causes wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and snaps the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”
11 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.
Interlude

Read Psalm 46 on a digital Bible.

Inviting God Into My Pain

As I close my eyes and think about the things happening around me in my country, I remind myself to focus on God. Psalm 46 tells me that God is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! That’s almost too awesome to imagine, but I picture it in my mind’s eye. I ask God to stop the loop of traumatic pictures, and thoughts that keep running in my mind like an unrelenting projector.

The Psalmist says that this same awesome God is here among us. As I read verse 10, I take a deep breath and calm myself down. I read out loud, ““Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.” I let that sink in for a few minutes. This is what the ancient people and worshippers must have been doing. Taking deep breaths like me as they heard this call to be still.

Like me, they and King Hezekiah had no idea what God was about to do for them, yet they were determined to cling to God in the middle of so much uncertainty. I know what I must do!

I will say, “No matter what comes my way, even if it’s worse than the worst I can imagine, I will not fear because God is my refuge and strength. I exalt God and am at peace. I am fearless because I trust God.”

Do you know what you must do?