A “Bad Day”?

A year ago, an old friend of mine recommended a book to me, one that he had recently received as a gift: Bad Days in History. In it, the author, Michael Farquhar, provides, “A gleefully grim chronicle of misfortune, mayhem, and misery for every day of the year.” Yes, 365 days of terrible events collected from centuries of history involving people and places from all over the world.

Strange subject matter? (Well, perhaps not if you know this friend of mine.) And perhaps Farquhar’s intent was to laugh at the misfortunes of others (although I doubt that). In his introduction, he does invite the reader to remember, “No matter how lousy your day has been, you can be sure that somewhere in time someone else’s was so much worse.”

Anyway, my wife and I discussed it and we decided to read each entry after our morning daily devotions. An odd choice? Perhaps. And one might think such a “daily downer” would be seriously depressing, but it hasn’t been.

Perhaps it’s a matter of text and context. Permit me to explain.

Our morning routine usually begins (after we’ve fed our dogs) with our devotions, that include a Psalm, a reading from a devotional classic that provides a meditation on a text from the Scriptures, and prayers. During this past year, after we’ve finished with that text, we’ve read that day’s “Bad Day.”

Those two texts, then, have been the context for what comes next: the morning news.

Given the rhetoric that has been flowing out of today’s broadcasters (and at our house we listen to more than one, to be fair in hearing differing perspectives and opinions) you’d think the world was coming to an end just about every morning. It’s all too easy to imagine that we’re living in “the worst of times,” and that the world has never had more problems, troubles, and disasters of every shape and size than it has right now. It’s tempting to think that sin and the devil are truly winning the day!

Of course, we know better than that from the text of God’s Word. We know our God is still Lord of the Universe, still in charge, still watching over us, caring for us, protecting us. And we’ve enjoyed God’s reassurance of that and more, as we hear His Word each day, and receive both His Word and His Supper each week. Living in that context, no matter how ‘bad’ things get in this life, we look forward to the promises Jesus has given that He is with us now and He will bring us through the resurrection into everlasting life with Him in the age to come.

And Farquhar’s book? Well, let’s just say his text has provided a bit of historical context, some perspective on today’s “news.” His book has reminded us that people and events have often been much, much worse than they are today.

So we don’t need to allow today’s broadcasters to rush us into a panic over today’s “disasters.” Yes, the world has its troubles. It has always had its troubles, and always will. That’s the context in which we live.

But again, that context is answered by the text of Scripture, which declares the good news that Jesus has already come. He has lived, suffered, died, and risen again to conquer sin, death, and the power of the devil. He is with us always, to the close of this age, seeing us through all the troubles we face until He comes again.

And in that Day, there will be no more troubles, nor sorrows, nor pains, nor dying—nor anything else “bad” to report. For we who believe in Jesus will live and rejoice with Him for all eternity, never to be touched by a “bad day” again!