August 22, 2016 - Shout for Victory

Have you ever been in a position where you didn’t understand what the coach (or your boss, or teacher, or parents) told you to do? I can think of numerous occasions I was in that position either as the player or as the coach. Yet it is more fresh in my mind as a coach or trainer when players look at me funny trying to figure out why in the world I have them doing what they are doing…

This happens often when I am conducting clinics and I begin with the plan for how the InBounds Total Player Academy teaches hoops. We have a set way in which we build the house of fundamentals to help each kid have some success. I typically make it a point to remind the kids at the clinics that I have been playing the game for 45+ years and know a bit more than them; I will often even share some of my successes as a player and coach. I don’t do this to brag but because I want them to realize they can trust me even if they don’t understand why I am doing something. If they are not sold out to the idea that they can trust me, they will not follow through with all I ask of them…

The same is true in our walk with God. If we do not realize that He is on our side and that we can trust Him, we are going to question whatever we don’t understand. Today in a classroom I reminded my students that “in the beginning God created…” (Genesis 1:1) He was not created in the beginning… He did the creating… He is beyond time and we can trust He knows what is best.

I thought about the sons of Israel as they were at the Battle of Jericho. (Found in Joshua chapter 6): this has to be one of the craziest things in the history of battles. The people of Jericho are shut up within their city walls and the Israelites are told to march around the city for 7 days and then to “shout” and the walls will fall down. Do you think they were questioning anything about their marching orders from Joshua (and ultimately from God)? Yet we know that they followed the instructions and gained victory as the walls fell down…

What “walls” are you facing? Are you trusting God at His Word? (Of course that demands time in the Word.) I love not only the follow-through of the sons of Israel but also the confidence in which they did it…

²⁰ So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

“Shouted with a great shout”: I love this wording in the Hebrew… the first “shouted” [ruwa’] being the word for (a shout of triumph) and the second “shout” [t@ruw’ah] with this word meaning a (battle-cry shouted with joy)! They didn’t just make noise at the walls of Jericho; they joyfully trusted God for victory!

Shout your praises and your trust in the Lord today! There is truly victory in Jesus! Trust Him! Trust His Word!