He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
~ Psalm 112:7 (NIV)
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All right -- a show of hands...how many of you avoid going to the doctor because you're afraid of bad news? How 'bout the dentist? the car mechanic? your tax man?
You see the signs that something's wrong...
~ a pain in your stomach that just won't go away
~ that nagging tooth ache that flairs when you chew
~ a 'clunk-clunk' from your car engine that sounds like trouble
~ a letter that comes in the mail from the IRS stamped, "URGENT - OPEN IMMEDIATELY!"
...and you push the WORRY button faster than a speeding bullet. Am I right? Are any of us immune to the WORRY button when the potential for bad news hits us?
The Bible says that the person who trusts the Lord doesn't fear bad news. And there's that word steadfast again. I LOVE that word! It's so solid and committed. The picture of this person is one who clings tightly to God, not being swayed by externals, but believing in the One who loves them faithfully. They refuse to get derailed by circumstances that threaten their peace.
You might say, Yeah, that's fine, but you don't know what I'm going through. And you're right -- I probably don't. But God does, and He says, If you trust Me completely, I will do a mighty work in your heart and mind, giving you a peace that passes all human understanding. Cancer, divorce, hurricanes, death -- none of these can separate you from Me -- what else, really, is there to be afraid of, huh? And when you do trust Me, you are My witness, a picture of what it looks like to overcome the trials of this life without falling apart through My strength.
So the question is: Do you really trust God, or not?
If you do trust Him, just keep clinging steadfastly to Him. Look into His loving eyes when circumstances beg for you to worry. Remember Who He is and His almighty power, and trust that He knows what He's doing.
If you don't trust Him, you can just keep worrying and stressing about bad news, trying to avoid the sometimes-inevitable. Go ahead and try to rely on your own devices and ingenuity to fix whatever's going wrong without losing your mind. But I guarantee you that living life without trusting God becomes a very scary, precarious way to live, because neither you nor any person on this earth has control of life. That's a charade and a farce. And believing it is a tragedy.
God is challenging you to stand on the cliff of trust, looking into life's ocean waters below. He says Do you trust Me? Can you cliff-dive in your daily life, trusting and believing in Me (not your own strength) to lead you safely to the bottom and through the waters? Can you take your eyes off of the rocks and the waves, and trust Me?
The choice is yours. Make it a good one, for your sake.
Love,
Joelene
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