Carrying the Weight of the World's News

He was scrolling through the news one morning. It seemed

like all he was reading about lately was war, economic

collapse, and another mass shooting. And he realized

something had shifted inside of him. It wasn't grief anymore. It

was something different. Something that felt like despair.

He was a Christian, and he believed God was sovereign. But

his phone told him a story every single morning before his feet

even hit the floor. So he did something about it. He built

something for himself and eventually for hundreds of

thousands of people who felt exactly the same come back to

that story in just a moment. But first,

welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger, and

today we're talking about world news and how it's quietly

affecting us more than we realize. We live in the age of

information. We have unprecedented access to global

suffering. Our phones constantly alert us to wars and natural

disasters, economic crises, and a whole list of other

potentially disturbing news. While God calls us to care, the

human heart wasn't designed to bear the weight of the world's

pain every hour of the day. The antidote might be to learn to

intercede for the world while actively placing those huge

global burdens into the hands of a sovereign God who's still on

the throne. Psalm 46 verses 1 and 2 says,

That psalm was written in a world that knew plenty of

trouble. There were wars and invasions and natural disasters.

None of that's new. But what is new is the speed and volume at

which we absorb it all. In previous generations, you might

hear about a faraway tragedy days or weeks later. Today, you

watch it unfold in real time on your phone before breakfast. We

wake up and we reach for the screen and within seconds, we're

absorbing the pain of the entire planet. A war on one continent,

a famine on the other, a shooting in our own country, and

then there's political chaos, economic uncertainty. And we

scroll and scroll, absorbing headline after headline, feeling

the weight getting heavier with each swipe. Researchers have a

name for it. It's called doom scrolling. It's the compulsive

habit of consuming negative news and being unable to stop, even

though it's making you feel And for Christians, it creates a

unique spiritual tension. We feel like we should care, and we

should be informed, and we should be And all of that's true,

But there's a difference between caring about the world and

carrying the world. Only God can carry the world. That was never

your job. Psalm 46 says, God is our refuge, so we will not fear.

The psalm acknowledges the earthquakes, and it acknowledges

the mountains crumbling, It doesn't pretend the world is

fine, but it anchors the believer's heart in something

bigger than the headlines. It anchors us in the sovereign,

unshakable presence of God. You can be informed without being

consumed. You can grieve what's happening in the world without

letting it swallow your soul. You can intercede for the

nations without personally shouldering the weight of every

tragedy. The key is where your heart lands after you read the

news. Does it land in despair, or does it land in prayer? Does

it land in panic, or does it land on the throne of God? If

you find yourself anxious or overwhelmed by the news cycle,

that should be telling you something. It means you've been

carrying the weight that was never meant to be yours, and God

is inviting you to set it down. So that man I mentioned, his

name is Jason Woodruff, and in 2018 he founded a Christian news

organization called The Poor Over. Their entire purpose is to

help believers stay informed about the world without being

spiritually hollowed out by the process. Every summary they

write is paired with Scripture, a prayer prompt, and an eternal

perspective. Their tagline says it all. Peace isn't found in the

headlines. It's found in Christ. And God is still on the throne.

The mountains may shake and the seas may roar, but he is our

refuge, not the news feed. You don't have to carry the world

today. That job is already taken. Maybe you need to hear that

today. Maybe your mornings have been hijacked by the headlines,

and your peace has been stolen before your feet ever hit the

floor. Maybe you've confused being informed with being

responsible for fixing everything you read about.

Here's today's challenge. This week, make one change to how you

consume the news. Maybe it means not checking the news until

after you've spent time with God in the morning. Maybe it means

setting a time limit on news apps. It might mean replacing

one doom-scrolling session with prayer for the situation you

just read about. And if you're interested in checking out the

pour-over, I put the link in the show notes. And try this. Every

time a headline activates your anxiety, practice this response.

Lord, this burden is too heavy for me. But it's not too heavy

for you. I place this in your hands. Because you're still on

the throne. Lord, the world is full of pain. And our phones

make sure we know about every bit of it. We confess that we've

been carrying the weight you never asked us to carry. Teach

us to care without being consumed by the world's news.

Help us to intercede and leave the results to you. Remind us

that you are our refuge and strength. That you are still on

the throne. And that we don't have to fear when the mountains

shake. We place the weight of the world's news in your

sovereign hands today. In Jesus' name. Amen. If this podcast has

been an encouragement to you, would you consider supporting it?

Your generosity helps keep these daily devotions coming. You can

give a one-time gift or you can become a monthly supporter at

DailyDevotionsForBusyLives.com slash support. Thank you for

partnering with me in this ministry. And thanks for joining

me on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, you don't have

to carry the weight of the world today. That job was already

taken by a God who's still on the throne. Come back next time

for more encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth.

Until then, God bless and have a great day.