Blessed is the man who greatly fears the LORD, who greatly delights in His commandments... He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid.

Psalms 112:1, 7-8, ESV

I know this might seem a bit contradictory, having a passage that tells us that those who greatly fear will not have to be afraid, but look at it more closely and we will see the point. The reason is that those who fear God do not have to be afraid of any man, nor of any bad things that might happen. Further, the fear of God is inclusive of our great love and of our high esteem for Him. It is true that we will have the "terror side" of fear when we ignore His commandments, but you will notice that the blessing for men who fear Him is predicated on their great delight in His commandments.

Having achieved that position before God - one where we greatly fear only Him, and one in which we greatly  delight in His commandments - we then will not have to live in fear of any bad news. It's not that bad news will not happen, it's just that we trust God to help us get through the trials of life.

This is the point in which we can now serve God to the best of our ability. Christians do need to be aware of the things that are going on in this world which can affect the way that they and their families will live. This is why we need to be responsible in the way that we use money and other resources, for if we are imprudent in this area, we and our families will suffer the consequences.

We also need to be aware of what is going on in the world around us. If we have leaders who are doing wicked things, then we need to be aware of those things so that we can do something about them. We might think that we can't do anything, but we would be wrong. You can vote. You can alert others as to what they are doing that you think is a cause for concern. And you can use the most powerful weapon in your arsenal - you can pray!

We are living in a difficult time at the present, and burying our heads in the sand and pretending that the things will go away is not an option. It's like hearing a strange noise in your car's engine when you are far from home. We can turn up the radio to drown out the noise for a while - we may even forget about the noise completely for a bit, but this does nothing to address the problem. Worse still,  our childish response may end up getting us stranded on the side of the road. The better thing to do is to try and find out what is wrong. If it turns out to be bad news, then fix it if you can, or walk if you can't. It's not the end of the world in either case.

It's the same with all bad news. We can ignore it completely, but someone will suffer in the end. So do what you can, be prepared where you are able, and turn the rest over to God. Even if the bad news that we don't want to hear is genuinely bad news - news that might even be fatal to our mortal bodies, we still do not need to fear if we have the right perspective. God does not command us to avoid bad news, he just doesn't want us to live in terror of it. The way we can best address any bad news has always been the same: We greatly fear God. We greatly delight in His commands. Then we don't have to fear anything else. For God really does love us and He really does not want us to suffer. We just need to be ready to do our part and then allow Him to do His part.

Being aware that "bad news" can happen, and then preparing as best we can for such events does not mean we have to be afraid. It just means we have to trust!