October 22, 2012 - FREEZE

My mind has been taken back tonight to times as a coach when my team was getting it handed to them and I as a coach was at a loss… Nothing worse on the sidelines than to know your team needs direction and you don’t have a clue. (For me this probably happened too often; that is why I tried to surround myself with great basketball minds to get advice from. Yes, I admit that at times I intentionally chose assistant coaches that knew more than me.. Thanks, Rick.) As a coach you are trying to figure out a strategy, devise a plan, turn the tables, etc…

Life, like games, can at times get to the point where you simply don’t know what to do. The “scoreboard” seems to be heading in the wrong direction and you simply don’t know how to fix it. There are times you feel like you are in a “no-win-situation.”

I must confess as I write this devotion in the second person I probably should be writing in first person. Life is hard and I spend far too much time trying to “diagram plays” to fix things – which also means in full confession that I need to admit that this often brings anxiety/worries (and yes that is sin…Philippians 4:6)

The logical thought here is to turn to an assistant coach to help make a plan. Yet I even though there are numerous pieces of wisdom in Scripture to seek wise counsel, there is a more direct command when there is a feeling of hopelessness or looming defeat: FREEZE!

Psalm 46 talks of the confidence we should have in the God who is a “refuge” and “strength”; the God who is “our help”; the God who wins battles…

And what does He say for Himself? In verse 10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God!”

The literal in Hebrew says, “Cease striving, and know that I am God!”

There just comes a time when we need to FREEZE – (when I need to FREEZE) – and stop trying to fix everything. Let’s pray for each other to learn to let go and let God…