Stability in Unstable Times?

I confess: I’m a “world news junkie.” I love to know what’s going on in other countries and how that affects where we’re headed and our life here in the United States.

But at times being a news junkie can be disquieting. The last week has been one such time. It was the week when Chinese leader Hu Jintao came to Washington; it was also the week of revolution in the North African Arab state of Tunisia.

The photo ops from Washington really couldn’t conceal the tensions between the world’s superpower and the world’s most populous country, which is seen by many as challenging it. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu smiled, dined together and held press conferences; yet the strained nature of the relationship wasn’t far below the surface. A whopping trade deficit of $252 billion in 2010 (almost $1,000 for every American man, woman and child!), resented by many U.S. lawmakers, is likely to drop only very slowly, as the Chinese currency, the yuan, appreciates too slowly for the likes of many. How long can the imbalance continue?

The two presidents reportedly ate apple pie and ice cream for dessert at the White House, yet not all is sweet between the two nations. Intellectual property rights, military tensions, and lack of basic human rights in trade union organization and religious freedoms—all contribute to the strains. How long, one wonders, can such tensions remain and not boil over?

The same week witnessed the overthrow of one of the longest-standing Arab oligarchs in the North African nation of Tunisia. The spark was the death by suicide of 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi, who poured a liter and a half of gasoline on himself and set himself on fire. His death rapidly became a cause célèbre for thousands of middle-class Tunisian youths, who took to the streets, frustrated by governmental corruption, cronyism and lack of opportunity.

The violent repercussions eventually forced an end to the 23-year rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, now reportedly exiled in Saudi Arabia. Aftershocks were felt throughout the Arab world, where youths in other countries killed themselves in the same way in solidarity. More importantly, the shock wave unsettled other ossified Arab leaders, who fear events in Tunisia may ignite a regional tsunami.

“This is in the mind of all of us,” stated Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab league, at an economic summit in Cairo. “The Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession,” he stated. One wonders what ripple effects may yet play out in the Arab world and how those effects might impact the Western world, with its thirst for Arab oil.

Where does a world news junkie turn in the midst of all the looming threats to our future? Perhaps you don’t have to overdose on news to find the source of stability: the Word of God, the Holy Bible.

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and the earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber…  The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand… The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore” (Psalm 121:1-8).

That’s good news for news junkies—and for all of us!