2020 is the most frustrating year that I can remember. It all started with a pandemic from China, and a lockdown of everyone, everywhere, and then violent demonstrations in big cities. Things are starting to look biblical, and medieval, and now there are rumours that a huge dam in China is under stress, with two hundred million people at risk downstream.

Before we get too shocked by all this, it’s important to know that disruption is normal, and stability never lasts. The world has prospered since the end of the last disruption, World War Two. The modern stable world started about seventy years ago, and we got used to living in prosperity.

If you want to know what disruption really looks like; in the year 536, a volcano erupted in Iceland, which caused crop failures, and starvation, and plague. This happened from Europe to China, and even extended to ancient civilizations in Peru. One result was that the Roman Empire collapsed completely and could not be revived, and the Dark Ages began.

The lesson is clear for me, we pray and trust God because we can’t trust ourselves. “In famine he will deliver you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword.” (Job 5:20)

READ: Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive’