Ready:
“I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.’” – Psalm 18:1-2
Set:
You are never fully sure what is going to happen in sports. Sometimes it seems your team gets all the bad breaks. A serious injury can suddenly change the course of your season. You can train and practice with great intensity, yet this is no guarantee that wins will follow.
Life is likewise filled with uncertainties. Whether in sports or life, these uncertainties can lead to anxiety or fear. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
When you surrender in faith to Jesus Christ, you have a relationship with the God who brings certainty in a world often characterized by uncertainty. This is what’s communicated in Psalm 18 and throughout the Bible: The Lord is our Rock. When the psalmist David and others speak of God as the Rock, they are not picturing a piece of gravel or a medium-sized stone. What they have in mind are the massive boulders or the huge rocky outcrops that characterized their landscape. Like these immovable objects, the Lord is the source of true stability. He is unchanging in His character, purposes and promises. We can rely completely upon Him.
If we try to base our identity and value on athletic success or any other pursuit apart from God, we are building on a shaky foundation. These things can come crashing down at any time. But when our identity and value are based on the Lord and what He says, we find in Him our Rock, our Strength, and our Refuge. As Jesus says in Matthew 7:24-25, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.”
True stability amid the uncertainties of sports and life is found only in the Lord. As David declares later in Psalm 18, “And who is a rock? Only our God” (v. 31b). Rather than allowing uncertainty to bring fear or anxiety, put your faith fully in the Lord. He is your rock.
Go:
How have you experienced God as your rock, whether in sports or another area of life?
How does knowing your stability is in the Lord transform your perspective in situations that tempt you toward fear or anxiety?
Workout:
Overtime:
“Lord, I praise You because You are my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. Thank You that I have certainty in You and Your promises. I pray that I would trust You in all things today. Amen.”