The need to stay informed and up to date on what’s going on around us is basic human nature. There’s nothing wrong with that; however, what we pay attention to affects our emotional state. Our external environment is filled with fear and negativity that has the potential to pull us into it and make us panicky and frightened. Thankfully, the good news God has for us successfully counteracts the bad news in the world.
Distress and suffering are all around us. Without a godly perspective of the reasons why it happens, it can seem pointless. Bad things can happen even to the believer; the difference is we know God uses tribulations to strengthen our trust in His commitment to deliver us from them. He takes the bad and turns it around for our benefit. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
A few years ago, a popular horror movie was released and marketed with the promotional tag line, “Be afraid, be very afraid.” However, God’s Word says differently. Despite what we see in the world, believing and trusting in His promise of protection keeps us perfectly safe from harm.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways (Psalm 91:5-11, NIV).
God knows what we’re feeling, and His message to us is one of reassurance.
From a psychological standpoint, watching others go through affliction and distress can have a negative emotional impact on us. Thankfully, God has promised to deliver us when trouble shows up at our doorstep. It’s unrealistic to expect that the life of a believer will be free of all adversity. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). God uses the bad situation to refine our faith in Him and move us away from faith in our self-efforts to fix the problem by ourselves.
Going through something negative is never pleasant, but we never have to be afraid of it. Trusting in God ensures that the situation will never overcome us, and we’ll come out of it stronger and wiser than before. The lessons we learn from it can give us insight so that we make better decisions the next time we’re facing something. Like Paul, we can learn to be content in every situation, even if it’s less than ideal. “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:11-13).
Stuff happens. Regardless of what it is, God brings us through it. Relying on Him means we’ll never truly be alone.