Like much of the rest of the world, I find myself following the news day after day. I read an article before work. I check the headlines during lunch. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night wondering what's happening in Ukraine, and before I know it, I'm reaching for my phone to check the news once again.
Wars have a way of doing that. They remind us how fragile life really is.
As I watched reports from Ukraine, my heart ached. I found myself praying again and again that God would bring peace and spare as many lives as possible. Every image of families fleeing their homes, every story of loss, every uncertainty about what might happen next seemed to add another layer of heaviness.
Our church spent time praying for Ukraine. We helped provide resources to evacuate several pastors serving there. I was grateful we could do something, yet it still felt so small compared to the overwhelming need.
Perhaps the conflict felt especially personal because my children are from Russia, and I've spent time there myself. Places that once held memories of adoption trips and familiar streets were suddenly filling the evening news. It all felt strangely surreal.
One evening, I finally turned off the television.
I stepped onto the back deck and watched the sun slowly disappear beneath the horizon. The evening was perfectly still. The birds continued singing as though nothing in the world had changed. The air was calm, and the sky was painted with soft shades of orange and pink.
The contrast was impossible to ignore.
I realized again how much I take for granted.
As followers of Christ, it's right that we pray for peace. It's right that we care deeply when people suffer. God is not indifferent to human pain, and neither should we be. But while we pray, we also remember none of this has taken God by surprise.
Jesus told His disciples,
"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places." — Matthew 24:6–7
Those words aren't meant to make us indifferent. They're meant to steady us. When the headlines seem overwhelming, Christ remains on His throne. When nations rage, He is still King. When tomorrow feels uncertain, He already knows the end from the beginning.
As I watched the courage of the Ukrainian people, I was struck by their determination to stand together through unimaginable hardship. Their resilience became a reminder that fear does not always have the final word.
As Christians, we have an even greater reason to stand firm. Our confidence isn't found in military strength, political leaders, or tomorrow's headlines. It rests in the One who has already overcome the world.
One day, Christ will return.
He will put an end to war.
He will wipe away every tear.
He will make all things new.
Until that day comes, we continue to pray. We continue to love our neighbors. We continue to help where we can. Even when the world feels uncertain, we refuse to let fear become our foundation.
No matter what is happening across the globe, Christ is still on the throne.
History Has Never Unfolded Outside the Hands of God
When I watch the evening news, it is easy to feel as though the world is spinning out of control. Wars erupt, nations rise against one another, and leaders make decisions that affect millions of lives. We watch the headlines unfold in real time, often with very little understanding of what will happen next. From our limited perspective, the events of the world can seem chaotic and unpredictable.
Perhaps that is because we are only seeing one page of the story, while God sees every page.
From the beginning of Scripture, we discover a God who has never once been surprised by the events of history. Kingdoms have risen and fallen. Empires have come and gone. Wars have been fought, nations have been conquered, and entire generations have lived through circumstances they never could have anticipated. Yet through every victory, defeat, tragedy, and triumph, God has continued accomplishing His purposes.
One of the clearest examples of this is found in the story of Joseph. If we had been watching Joseph’s life as it happened, we might have concluded that everything had gone terribly wrong. He was betrayed by his own brothers and sold into slavery. After faithfully serving in Potiphar’s house, he was falsely accused and thrown into prison. Even after helping someone who could have spoken on his behalf, Joseph was forgotten and left there for years.
Nothing about Joseph’s circumstances suggested that God was working. In fact, it would have been easy to assume that God had abandoned him altogether. Joseph could not see what was happening beyond the walls of the prison. He did not know that a famine was coming, that his family would one day need food, or that God was preparing him to stand in a position of influence before Pharaoh.
God had not abandoned Joseph. He was positioning him.
Every hardship became another step toward the place where God intended to use him. The betrayal, the slavery, the false accusation, and even the years in prison were not powerful enough to prevent God from fulfilling His purpose. What appeared to be a collection of unrelated tragedies was actually part of a much larger story that Joseph could not yet see.
Years later, Joseph stood before the brothers who had betrayed him and said, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” --Genesis 50:20
I love that verse because it does not minimize what Joseph’s brothers did. Their intentions were sinful, and the pain they caused was real. Yet their choices were never powerful enough to overthrow the purposes of God. God took what others intended for destruction and worked through it to preserve an entire family and save countless lives during a famine.
That does not mean God delights in war, suffering, or evil. Scripture reveals a God who is compassionate, just, and deeply aware of human pain. It does mean, however, that evil will never have the final word. Human choices may cause terrible suffering, but they cannot remove God from His throne or bring His plans to an end.
The same God who was at work in Joseph’s prison cell is still at work today. We may not understand what He is doing, and we may not be able to see beyond the events unfolding in front of us. The headlines may appear frightening, and the future may seem uncertain, but none of it has taken God by surprise.
History has never unfolded outside of the hands of God.
We Know How the Story Ends
As we journey through this world, we will inevitably live through moments that shake us. Every generation has them. I can still remember watching the Twin Towers fall on September 11 and feeling a deep sense of uncertainty about what lay ahead. It seemed as though the world had changed overnight.
Today, many people feel that same uncertainty as they watch the war in Ukraine unfold.
We don't know how this war will end. We don't know what tomorrow's headlines will bring, how other nations will respond, or what the months and years ahead will look like. From our perspective, there are so many unanswered questions.
But there is one ending we do know.
As followers of Christ, our greatest hope has never rested in knowing what tomorrow's headlines will say or anticipating the next move on the world stage. Our hope rests in the ending that God has already revealed.
One day, Christ is going to return.
He is going to make all things new. He will wipe away every tear. Death will finally be defeated. War will come to an end forever, and the brokenness that has marked this world since the fall will be no more.
That doesn't mean we ignore what is happening today. We continue to pray for peace. We grieve with those who grieve. We care deeply about those who are suffering, and we seek to help however God gives us the opportunity.
But today's chapter is not the final chapter.
Knowing how the story ends changes the way we live today. It allows us to face uncertainty without being consumed by fear. It gives us the courage to pray instead of panic, to trust instead of despair, and to fix our eyes on Christ instead of the ever-changing headlines.
The world may not know what tomorrow holds.
But our God does.
And because of that, we can live with hope.
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