They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. Ps 112:7 (NLT)
The Psalmist is writing about the kind of life someone who follows God lives. From verse 6-7, it says “Such people will not be overcome by evil. Those who are righteous will be long remembered. They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly.”
V1 tells us that ‘such people’ refers to those who fear the lord and obey His commands. There are two ways to process this thought.
1) Start obeying and fearing. Read the letter of the law and be careful to always observe it in all you do. Every day, forever. Perfection is the answer.
2) Eph 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” So the focus of this Psalm surely isn’t ‘works’ based. James 4:8 says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”… So it can’t be works based OR fear in terms of wariness, either. In Matthew 22:36 – 40 Jesus says “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
The highest level of obedience we can engage in is relationship. God isn’t looking for perfect people (strike out option 1) – there are none, so His search would be fruitless and endless… But he DOES desire to have a relationship with every human being on the planet. And that includes all the facets of relationships – good times, bad times, times of heartache, of silence, noise, anger, joy, repentance, messy, creative… All of it.
So how do you become one of those people who have no need to fear bad news? Be in relationship with Christ, and be all there. Pure and simple.
Look to him in all things – you can trust Him to lead you through all that you face.
Love you guys.
Click the above image to PRE-ORDER the Limited Edition PktFuel MOD-CASE with FREE SHIPPING