They will have no fear of bad news. (Ps. 112:7)
Expanded Passage: Psalm 112
We are bombarded with bad news. It’s everywhere, not just in the newspaper or the radio. Access social media, and it will be there. Browse the internet, and it will manage to get in front of you. We grow so accustomed, and at times addicted, to bad news. We might call it being informed, but we are being saturated with tragedy, corruption, violence, scandals, abuse, national and global conflicts, and so on. As long as it does not affect us much at the personal level, we are very accepting of bad news. But when the bad news hits home, it can be devastating.
It is striking to read in this psalm that a righteous person will have no fear of bad news. How can that be? The poem’s opening talks about a person who fears the Lord, someone whose heart is steadfast, someone who trusts in the Lord. It does not mean that the person is incapable of fear. Fear can, in fact, be an enemy, and the righteous person in this psalm has a few foes. But the person can remain fearless in the midst of bad news, as long as they remain fearful of the Lord.
I have noticed that when I reduce my consumption of bad news and spend more time seeking God, my trust in him increases and my fear shrinks.
For twenty-four hours, disconnect yourself from news outlets.
Luigi Peñaranda is the former director of graduate programs in Spanish at Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
