Bad News

Does anyone like bad news?

And yet that is the majority of the news we hear. Pick up a newspaper or turn on the nightly newscast and it is car wrecks, murders, missing persons, and political scandals. If there is a little good news, it is usually the last story or on the last page.

We don’t like to hear bad news, and we certainly don’t like to receive bad news about our own lives, but when we hear so much bad news we can have a tendency to become fearful of it.

But in Psalm 112, speaking about the man who fears the Lord, the Bible says that “He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord (v.7).”

How is it possible to not fear bad news? As a believer (whose heart is firm, trusting in the Lord) I know that no matter what happens to me in this life, God either authored it or allowed it. Whatever happens to me happens under God’s sovereignty, so there is nothing I can do about it anyway; why worry about that which I cannot control?

I also should not worry because if some bad news does befall me, even to the point of death, I am reminded that heaven is my final destination. Leaving this world, for a Christian, is a good thing.

According to this verse we will fear something, either bad news or the Lord. To fear the Lord means to have a holy respect for Him (more about this here).

Are you afraid of bad news, or is your heart firm in the Lord?