Bad news

Remember the story of the prophet Samuel when he had to go deliver bad news to King Saul? Saul had disobeyed God and Samuel had to go tell him that God was unhappy with him. I'm sure Samuel was not looking forward to that conversation.

What about the story of Jonah: God tells Jonah to go to Ninevah and preach against the city for their wickedness. I'm not sure anyone can blame Jonah for wanting to flee, even to the belly of a whale.

I delivered bad news today. And it sucked.

Most of us can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we've been given bad news. I remember sitting in the dingy McDonalds table as a young teenager when my parents told us that my grandpa had died. When I first learned of the plane crashes on September 11, 2001, I was in my pajamas, in the family room with my mom. Well now I feel like I'm the person that will be included in the memory of those who I had to tell about Tracie today...and it's not a memory that I want to be a part of.

Here is another strange thought. As a Christian, I have GOOD NEWS for everyone - Jesus Christ, is the Son of the One True God, and He came to earth as a human to take the punishment of our sin (death). But He conquered death and offers everyone access to eternal life by simply accepting His forgiveness and acknowledging Him as God. So my strange thought is this, for good news to be considered good, doesn't it need to be compared to bad news?

Basically what I'm getting at is that, even in the midst of bad news and bad days, God can work, God is there, He is all around, and He has good news.

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said:
"In my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
and you listened to my cry."

Jonah 2:1-2