When Bad News Strikes!

I was looking for a good illustration to open my discussion about bad news. Although I had found several that I considered using, none of them seemed quite right; so I began to wrap things up for the day. As I was getting ready to leave, I shared my dilemma with a friend. She offered me a small book of poetry to take home and see if there was anything in it that I might be able to use.

As I sat there quickly thumbing through it, I came across a short poem that was exactly what I had been looking for! Now, greatly relieved, I would like to share it here with you as my message opener...

"All the water in the world
However hard it tried,
Could never, never sink a ship
Unless it got inside.

All the hardships of this world,
Might wear you pretty thin,
But they won't hurt you, one least bit
Unless you let them in."
-Author Unknown

Let's take a look at what the Bible teaches in regards to handling bad news. Because if and when bad news occurs, at least we will know how to manage it.

A suitable starting point for our discussion is Genesis 37:31-36, the story of Joseph. Moved by jealousy, Joseph’s brothers sought to destroy him. They brought him to a remote area and cast him down into a pit, with the intention to kill him.

Fortunately one of his brothers, Judah, had better sense than to do this and instead they sold him into slavery. They dipped Joseph’s coat in blood and brought it back to Jacob. They told Jacob that Joseph had been killed by wild animals. So Jacob believed the lie and mourned Joseph for many years.

Now, what do we do when we get bad news? How do we deal with it? What tools do we use to manage it? Some bad news is relatively inconsequential. And, other bad news can be terribly tragic. How do we handle bad news?

In this regard, the Bible teaches us a remarkable number of things that can help with dealing with bad news. Let’s check out a few of those things...

Verify it! When we get bad news, the first thing we want to do is verify it. We don’t want to make the same mistake that Jacob made. Sometimes when we receive bad news we overreact. We want to believe the worst.

We should take care to verify that bad news is really bad news (1 Thessalonians 5:21). If we fail to verify the bad news, we could make things worse for ourselves as did Jacob.

Act on it! Ask yourself: Is there anything that I can do to help the situation improve? What is the bad news that is distressing us? Is it anything that we can do something about?

If so, then instead of sitting around doing nothing, we ought to get busy doing something (Romans 12:11; Colossians 3:23; James 4:17). Doing nothing when we can do something will only make things worse.

Pray! When we have verified the bad news and done something, if there is anything to do, we must turn to God in prayer. God wants us to pray to Him in difficult times (Luke 18:1). God doesn’t want us to faint, but take courage in Him to do the right thing. We have to be humble enough to turn to the Lord with problems that are out of our hands (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Think about it! Part of working through any bad news is thinking about such things. Our mind tends to replay the bad news over and over again. It is easy to allow that to happen. But in order to deal with bad news we’ve got to stop the cycle of negative thinking. This means that we must focus on good things instead of bad. The Bible encourages this behavior as well (Philippians 4:8). Counting our blessings goes a long way toward dealing with bad news.

Talk about it! Talking to others about our bad news also helps us to deal with it. Talking is therapeutic and helps to alleviate anxiety that we build within ourselves. This also brings us into deeper relationships with our Christian friends and family (Romans 12:15). In order to do this with others we need to talk about such things (1 Corinthians 12:25-26).

Accept it! In order to handle bad news, we’ve got to accept it. Sometimes it takes a long time for us to do this depending on how bad the news is (Romans 8:28). Regardless how bad a situation may seem to us, God is able to use it for good. When we recognize this, it will help us toward accepting the bad news that has come into our life. We will always see bad things that happen as working for good in the Lord’s hands.

For example, when we look at dirty dishes, do we only see a great mess or do we see that we’ve had food to eat? When we look at rowdy children do we only see a constant source of irritation or do we see healthy, active, vibrant youth? Even when we look at the death of a fellow Christian, do we see it as our loss or his, or her gain?

God is able to make all things work for his good. Knowing this helps us to accept bad news and live with it.

Rejoice! We don’t rejoice without reason, that would be insanity. We rejoice knowing that God is in control of all things good and bad. We rejoice knowing the blessings we have as Christians. We rejoice in the future and hope of all who are children of God (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

In summary, How do we handle bad news? We should:

1) Verify it!
2) Act on it!
3) Pray!
4) Think about it!
5) Talk about it!
6) Accept it!
7) Rejoice!

Prayer:

My Father, I pray that if I meet with difficulty, I may not go backward, nor stand still, and fear to go forward. Unfold to me the depth and breadth of the ideal and beautiful, that I may not be content to succeed in the shallowness of life: but may I aspire to the height of the soul, even if I fail to acquire great things. Amen.

May God bless you always!

Kaycee