"For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries."
Psalm 112:6-8
Every day there's always bad news waiting for us to give it our attention, and you don't need to look far and wide to find it. It's all over newspapers, timelines, websites, YouTube channels and search engines. It seems that we never run out of new problems, new crises or new tragedies. How can we find the goodness and loving kindness of God in amongst all the bad stuff that happens today?
Out of fear, many Christians would rather remain shut out from the harsh realities that face every single one of us. We'd rather stay mum and unaware of the battles in the Middle East or even the crimes happening in our own backyard. Or conversely, we can spend all day reading it only to lose all sense of hope and become cynical.
How are we as God's people to respond to all the ugly things that happen in this world?
Acknowledge the brokenness of the world
If there's anything all the wars, famine, poverty, sickness and conflict can teach us it's that this world is broken. Not because God made it broken or cares nothing for it, but because sin has gravely destroyed it. We're quick to blame God for all the evil that's happening in the world either pointing to Him as the source or claiming He does nothing to stop them.
Look to God's righteousness
We may have ruined the world, but God's righteousness is more than enough to bring reconciliation. A revelation of our brokenness should lead us to a revelation of God's supreme power. Instead of trusting in our own capacity to fix the problems in this world alone, we should look now to God and His ability, not ours. I'm not saying that we don't do our part to try and alleviate poverty, social injustice or any issue that is rampant today. But we must never do so thinking that it's about what we can do.
Psalm 112:7 tells us, "He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord." When we truly come into a revelation of the gravity of our sin and the magnitude of God's love and righteousness which has now been imputed on us through Christ, we will respond to bad news with hope in God and not in the hopelessness of this world.
