I let my subscription to World magazine lapse. I’m feeling a bit irresponsible about it, now that my source of news has been pretty much brought down to the bare bones via the people I meet and the blogs I read, which isn’t much on either count. The issues I care most dearly about (such as abortion, education, family breakup, poverty and the persecuted church) are so overwhelming me in helplessness that all I can do is weep over them. And yes, I do pray and yes, I do write my “representatives”. But it can be so very, very discouraging and a fodder for fear.

How, I’ve wondered, did mothers and grandmothers who followed (or tried to follow) godly paths deal with living under the butcher king, Herod? How did they manage under the terror of a pharaoh who was mentally insane? Did they keep up with the daily events and winds of change? Or did they simply just plod along in hope and cook the next meal? Were they fearful? Or did their trust conquer that?

I wonder if Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, had company in tears with godly women behind their doors? Did they fear for their grandchildren? I understand that there is nothing new under the sun, but surely the Lord must be wearied of the mire of it all.

I am so weak that my primary concern right now is in planning for the new homeschooling year, and not for the children in Africa who fear malaria from a single mosquito bite. I dabble in cookbooks and buy whatever I need from a grocery store that I get to freely in my own car, and give no thought to mothers who grieve not having enough to feed their babies. And yet even so I am sorrowful of the evil, and ashamed enough of adding to it all with my own sins. Still, I praise God that He is in control of it all and that in Him I can have hope and can enjoy the blessings of the country I live in.

So, I’ve turned down the news media for a time. Believe me, I know how urgent things are today, but I am certain that this too, is nothing new. I need to spend more time in the Word, studying and reasoning and applying its living water to my life. I feel the urgency to teach my children to do the same, and to encourage my friends in that endeavor as well. When the worse happens (and why should we be exempt at this time in history?) I know that the time I spend focusing on God and my family more, and on the sky-is-falling “news” less, will have been the most responsible call I could have made.

Proverbs 1:33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.