One small word for when the news won't stop
Dear friend.
Can I ask you something honest? When did you last check the news today?
Maybe it was before breakfast. Maybe you’re reading this partly because you needed a moment away from the headlines. There’s so much noise right now - and we’re exhausted by it, but we can’t quite look away either.
This week I’ve been sitting with Proverbs 3, and today I found myself in one of the most familiar verses in the whole Bible: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding.” I’ve read it a hundred times. But I’d never properly stopped on the Hebrew word behind “trust.”
It’s the word batach. It means to throw your full weight onto something - like leaning your whole body against a door. It’s not about feelings. It’s about where you place your weight.
And that led me to Habakkuk - a prophet who lists disaster after disaster, everything gone wrong at once. And then says: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.”
Yet. One small word. It doesn’t pretend things are fine. It simply says: this is not the whole story.
Julian of Norwich wrote something very similar during the Black Death - when the world genuinely felt like it was ending. She said: “All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” Not because things looked well. But because she had placed her weight on something eternal.
That’s what I want for you today. Not optimism. Something sturdier.
I’ve put together a 5-minute devotional on this - including one simple 10-second practice to try before you next reach for your phone. You can watch it here:
With you in it.
Rob
Read this week’s devotionals here - https://open.substack.com/pub/battledrilldevotional/p/when-clever-isnt-enough?r=643q6o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true