They Do Not Fear Bad News

Praise the LORD!

How joyful are those who fear the LORD

and delight in obeying his commands. . . .

They do not fear bad news;

they confidently trust the LORD to care for them. Psalm 112:1, 7

PARENTS WHO HAVE REPEATEDLY RECEIVED bad news —from the doctor, from the school, from the counselor, from the police —find themselves always bracing for more bad news. Anticipating the next blow can become a way of life. But this is not the life being held out to us in Psalm 112.

This psalm presents an idyllic picture of the life of those who put their hope in the gospel and thereby receive the righteousness of Christ by faith. As is typical in the Old Testament, the prosperity promised is described largely in material terms. Yet it does not ignore how the person who fears the Lord is made prosperous in spiritual and emotional ways. Such a person, according to this psalm, does not fear bad news.

And surely the blessedness of not living in fear of bad news is something we want and need as parents. We want the blessedness of confident trust that the Lord is committed to caring for us and for our children. We want the blessedness of not always living on edge, but instead living at peace, confident that our children are in God’s hands. The answer to our ongoing anxieties is not a hoped-for turn of events, but rather a God-centered stance of trust.

Surely what our children need most is a joyful, hopeful, peaceful parent who trusts and rests in God. But how will this happen? “Faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ” (Romans 10:17). We need to drink from a steady stream of God’s Word, which assures us that he is always bringing life out of death, healing out of brokenness, and hope out of despair. He is a God who loves to bless his people. And when we know this deep in our souls, instead of living in fear of bad news, we live in the confident expectation that he is at work.

Lord, increase my fear of you, my sense of awe at your power, and my glad obedience to your Word. I know that as my fear of you increases, my anxieties about the problems we’re facing today and my fears about the future will give way to confident trust that you are at work and that you care for us.