A brief, cursory study of the Scriptures may reveal something very important about the way God feels about a serious upcoming event. I invite you to walk with me through a couple Bible passages.
Gold and silver are mined, then purified; the same is done with iron and copper. Miners carry lanterns deep into the darkness to search for these metals. They dig tunnels in distant, unknown places, where they dangle by ropes… Miners go to places unseen by the eyes of hawks; they walk on soil unknown to the proudest lions. – Job 28:1-4, 7-8
Celebrate and sing! Play your harps for the Lord our God… He provides food for cattle and for the young ravens, when they cry out. – Psalm 147:7, 9
Clearly, God has a deep concern over the outcome of Sunday’s Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens… unfortunately, I just can’t figure out which team God is rooting for.
Seriously though—and I say this as someone who loves watching the Super Bowl—I don’t think God cares very much which team wins and which team loses. I do, however, believe that God is concerned about how the game is played. If we spent a little more time in Job 28 and Psalm 147, here is where we would arrive:
Seriously though—and I say this as someone who loves watching the Super Bowl—I don’t think God cares very much which team wins and which team loses. I do, however, believe that God is concerned about how the game is played. If we spent a little more time in Job 28 and Psalm 147, here is where we would arrive:
God alone understands the way to wisdom… And this is what God says to all humanity: ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’ – Job 28:23, 28
The Lord’s delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner; but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. – Psalm 147:10-11
But what does it mean to “fear the Lord?” It means living our lives oriented to God. This orientation is “developed and nurtured by the disciplines of piety: prayer, meditation, and other religious observances that serve to remind one of God’s continual presence.”1 Time spent with God makes us more mindful of God’s presence in our lives, and helps us focus on how God wants us to live our lives. When all of our interactions reflect the reality that God is with us, within us, and within the other, we begin to understand the true depth of fearing the Lord. No matter what competitions we are witnessing, or may be involved in, may we always remember that God is present, and cares very deeply about how we play the game.
Oh… and go Ravens.
1Newsom, Carol A. “The Book of Job.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary.
Vol. IV. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996. 534.
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