I keep resolving to stop watching cable news because it usually makes me feel like my brain is about to spontaneously combust. It’s a hard habit to kick, though, for someone like me who has an inexplicable desire to keep up, in real time, with what’s happening in the world.
I’ve always been a newspaper addict and as my husband will confirm, woe be unto anyone who throws away my paper before I’ve read it. When the newspaper and six o’clock news were just about the only available news sources, it was easy to keep my habit in check, but those days are long gone.
Now the news buffet is open 24/7 and I can pig out anytime by simply clicking a remote, computer mouse or an icon on my cell phone. So like my ancient ancestors, Adam and Eve, I’m constantly tempted to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Even though TV and internet news sources typically cover only a tiny fraction of what’s actually happening and instead fixate on whatever is most scandalous, sensational and controversial, I’m still afraid I’ll miss something important if I don’t check in throughout the day.
But to stay thoroughly informed is also to invite a boatload of stress into our lives. Occasionally the news producers try to lighten the mood with fluffy stories, like the one I recently saw about a guy who snuggles with his “emotional support” alligator to help his depression, and another about how we can protect ourselves from horseflies by painting stripes on our bodies.
Funny, but those don’t make me feel better or increase my confidence that we human beings can sort ourselves out or truly fix this world. Just the opposite, in fact.
I think I understand why the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the only thing declared off limits by God in the Garden of Eden. Only God is strong enough, wise enough and just enough to handle all the evil Satan has unleashed in this world. And while we certainly and thankfully don’t see it all, like God does, we see enough to make us desperately yearn for something better.
Made in the image of our Creator, most of us crave perfect justice, truth, and love, and we search for any glimpse of those things. We want happy endings, for wrongs to be righted, and for the good guys to win, but from a worldly perspective, it’s hard to believe that can happen.
Thankfully, we’re not limited to a worldly perspective. There’s another “news source” available to us—the Bible—that promises everything this world can’t. It’s the disinfectant my brain and heart need after watching a high-definition, full-color display of man’s depravity.
God’s word reminds me that things aren’t spinning out of control—they are actually falling into place. The darkness we see now is temporary; God’s master plan is unfolding; the ultimate outcome is guaranteed, and it’s good.
God wins. Goodness ultimately wins. That’s our sure hope and that hope is the “anti-venom” we need when we feel like the cares of this world are poisoning us.
Jesus told His disciples, “Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe (John 14:29).” In Isaiah 46:10, God is called the One who “declares the end from the beginning.”
If the icy fingers of fear grip your heart, remember this: We don’t have to be afraid to watch the story unfold when we trust the Author and already know the end.