WHEN BAD NEWS COMES
Psalm 31:14-15
But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, “You are my God.” 15 My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.
It was one of the last years that Steve hunted with me. After 33 years of being together, hunting deer and turkeys, sometimes several times a year, Steve passed away. On one of those last trips, I had Steve in on the only stands he could still get in. When I picked him up at dark, he was very excited. He told me that a very large buck had walked out into the field and began to work his way through the soybeans. He spent all evening slowly feeding his way in his direction and right at dark walked right past the stand where Steve waited.
After waiting all evening Steve was able to get a shot off and he thought he had made a good shot. I was excited for him and told him to stay in the stand and point me to where the buck had stood when he shot… I would go look for a blood trail. Steve sent me out right to the spot where the buck was standing and when I looked down I saw right away a clean arrow laying on the ground. I picked the arrow up and examined it for blood… but there was none… a clean miss.
I had to slowly walk back and give Steve the bad news. For over 30 years of hunting with me, Steve had never missed a deer. If he pulled the trigger on a rifle or released an arrow, it was always successful. This was hard news to tell him and hard news for Steve to take. Bad news is never easy. In reality, missing a buck will never really change your life. It might be disappointing, but it isn’t life changing.
Bad news is never a good thing…. But when the phone rings and the person on the other end of the phone tells you that you that they have your test results, and they want you to come in to discuss them… It’s more than disappointing, at times it’s crushing. I’ve now had to deal with that a couple times… It isn’t easy.
No one is prepared for the phone call that rocks your world like the call when someone on the other end says, “you’ve got cancer”. But in that moment we need to realize that we might have cancer…. But cancer doesn’t have us. If we allow Him to, God has us. Cancer might ravage our body temporarily, or maybe even permanently…. But it can’t have our soul. The same is true of any bad news. When we have God, only He can say what is going to happen. Cancer or anything else doesn’t have that power.
In the book of Acts, chapter 12, we can read that Peter was imprisoned and waiting trial, he would likely be executed as James, the brother of John had recently been executed. He was guarded by 16 guards, being chained to two of them. Like dealing with an attack of cancer… Peter must have felt it was just a matter of time for him until his time was up. But those guards didn’t have control of that situation, God did. In the middle of the night the chains fell off Peter and he walked out of the prison to freedom. God was and is in control.
Later Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:7
"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
Peter had lived it out and saw what God could do. We can have the same peace that Peter had, if we trust that even when the worst of news comes, God is still in control.
No matter what comes on you today, this week or this year, remember that the Lord is still in control. We may have detours from our plans in life, but if we trust Him, we can have peace no matter what news we’re given. Rest on that assurance
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