No Fear of Bad News
Do you trust God enough to not dread anything?
Verse of the Day
‘They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord .’
Today’s Devotional
(This is a repeat post from August 2020.)
What is the worst news you can imagine getting? There are a lot of things that would be bad, and I do not spend much time thinking about those things. Why? Because that is worry. It is wasting the time I have now fretting about a problem that may never happen. But I also don’t worry a lot about “bad news” because that is not one of my particular personality traits. I recognize that other people are wired differently than me, and for some of you, worry is a major struggle.
I believe that this verse can be applied to my life in two ways. This first way is how to react when the moment comes that we get some devastating news. In that moment, what do I do? My first thought, if I got some terrible news, is that I would fall on my knees and cry out to God. We are driven to God more easily in times of crisis. Because we don’t know how to make sense of what is happening. I don’t believe that God is telling us not to grieve, because we are told in other parts of the Bible TO grieve. I believe we are supposed to bring our grief to Him. We must trust, in those very difficult days, that God WILL work out these terribly difficult circumstances for our good in some way. In order for Him to be able to do that, I must remain in a place of trust even in the midst of my pain. I must recoil from resentment, bitterness and self-pity like they are a hot flame. I also need to be honest here and say that I don’t have many instances in my life where I have gotten terrible news. But I have lived through some really difficult seasons. Some I have handled better than others. They are all now areas where I can serve others and walk with them in similar situations.
The second way this verse can apply to my life is by avoiding the “what if” scenarios. I refuse to spend my time playing out scenes in my head about what might happen. I understand why we do this as humans. We do things like that so that maybe we will be prepared. But let me squash that myth right here and now. We are not prepared. We will not be prepared. We are sheep. And we need a Shepherd. The sheep don’t spend their time worrying about the weather, or if they will have enough food, or where to find fresh water, or if the other sheep like them. They follow the shepherd. That’s all they are capable of. I would suggest that that is all I am capable of as well, even though my human brain likes to convince me otherwise.
On July 31st of 1995, I got a phone call that changed my life. I was engaged to be married on August 19th, and my fiance called me that evening to break off the engagement. I was stunned. I was embarrassed. I had no idea how to undo a wedding in under 3 weeks while also finishing my last semester of college. Now, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t consider this to be in the category of catastrophic news. But it was for me at that time. Also, I wasn’t anywhere near as close to the Lord as I am today. But I had a family and a community of believers that prayed hard for me. Today, I could not be more grateful that my former fiance broke off our engagement. If he would not have been brave enough to do that, I would not be married today to my amazing husband. God is good. God saved me from one relationship to bless me with an amazing husband. But to get from one place to the other, I had to live through a difficult time. And looking back at that, it makes my trust in God blossom. Because He really is faithful. I have nothing to fear.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Are you fearful of bad news?
Are you a “what if” thinker?
How has God worked through “bad news” in your life?
In remembering those times, how can you make your heart more steadfast in your trust in God?
Do you trust God enough to not dread anything?