Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle;
he is my steadfast love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield and he in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
O Lord, what is man that you regard him,
or the son of man that you think of him?
Psalm 144:1-3. ESV
The other day reminds me of the good ol world of sport and competition as two teams went to battle for the Superbowl. Only one team can go home the winner and you better believe both teams are praying on their hands and knees that their team wins. This reminds me of the years that I competed and would pray for a win or that the good Lord would save my neck, because so often I knew I was risking serious injury or death by how fast I was headed into a quarter pipe, halfpipe or jump. Especially if it was icy, the risk went up substantially.
I remember one Arctic Challenge we were practicing on this 32 foot ice wall quarter pipe, I had my wrist in a cast from the Olympics, and one of the riders bounced off the lip after a big air and went to the flats seriously injuring him. There was blood all over the transition and we had to cancel practice because no one wanted to ride after that happened.
Often comps felt like war, but there are obvious differences between war and sport. There are also some similarities. In war you know both sides are praying for victory and safety, but does God take sides? He absolutely did with the Israelites when bringing them into the promise land. Often it was dependent on them honoring their covenant with God, sometimes judgement on a nation, but it was always dependent on God being Glorified. God does God things and our ways are not His ways, but His ways should be our ways. The whole point of this is not whose team or side is God on. The point is, win, lose or draw, our every gift is from God and do we honor him? Who is man that God would care or listen to his cry? There is much here in God’s word to pray and meditate on.
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Do you run to God with every concern?
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Does God care?
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Do you trust God with the outcome?
By Andy Finch | Truckee, CA