Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous. It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries. He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor. The wicked man sees it and is angry; he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked will perish! (Psalm 112 ESV)
So what do you do when you get bad news? Most of us do not deal with bad news well. We let it get to us. We let it take over our space and make our day seem dark and gloomy. We do not usually take well to bad news.
Yesterday my eldest daughter was in a gymnastics meet which she needed to do well enough at to advance to the next level. She did her best and even did some of her best routines her mother and I had seen her do. She was hitting things she had not hit and was making connections that seemed to elude her before. The scores did not reflect this, but that is the nature of the meet, and the sport. She did a wonderful job and her mother and I ware very proud of her. She needed to be in the top 26 to advance on to the next level. She was 29th. She missed going on by 3 places, but she did her best, but the news was devastating to all of us. We were so looking forward to moving on to the next level. But is this new the end of the world?No there will be other meets and she will have a chance to advance to the level she now missed again later in life. This does not mean she is a failure as a person. She is a wonderful woman who has done wonderful things for many people and will continue to do things for people. She will be a light in the darkness because of the love of Christ that lives in her.
You see one failure does not constitute the end of the battle, or the end of your life. If you learn from any defeat or bad news, and move on, trusting in God to see you through, as the psalmist tells us. The darkness can not hold back the light and there is no need to be upset with bad news, it is merely a bump in the road and God will be there to help you over it.
Today my daughter is going to gymnastics practice to learn how to do it a little bit better, so next time she will do even better. She is learning from her past meets and listening to those around her that might have a better understanding of the sport. If we can learn from the sins we have made, or the shortcomings in helping the last, lost, least, and little and be in community with the other children of God, we can move forward in the light, spreading that light to all of the world. So trust in God and know that He will be your light in the darkness and the hope in the day that looks gloomy and dark.
aSacredRebel 