Starstruck (Friday Devotional)

And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

- 1 John 5:14

I couldn’t believe my luck. There I was, 10 years old, at my first Major League Baseball playoff game, the atmosphere electric. Hope was in the air, excitement radiated throughout the stadium, and it felt like anything was possible. And then came the cherry on top: the friends who had scored our tickets asked if we wanted to meet Tom and Ben Grieve.

My eyes widened. Tom Grieve was Mr. Ranger—a former player and general manager for Texas, and now their color commentator on television broadcasts. And Ben, his son, was the reigning American League Rookie of the Year, a star in the making whose future seemed limitless. Did I want to meet the Grieves? Of course I did!

So my friends escorted us down to where these two baseball kings were sitting and introduced me. And in that moment, face to face with people I’d only ever seen on TV, I completely froze up. I couldn’t think of a word to say—didn’t thank them for taking a moment to meet me, didn’t say I enjoyed watching them on TV, didn’t even say hello. With a deer-in-the-headlights look, I simply thrust my scorecard into their hands with a Sharpie, they smiled and signed it, and we returned to our seats. I’d had the opportunity to get to know two people I considered legends—and instead, I was too starstruck to speak up.

There are days where I come to God to pray, ready to offer thanks and make requests, and the same kind of thing happens as did at that game. I start to think about God’s glory and majesty, I reflect upon all He has done and will do, and suddenly I forget what I came to say. My problems start to feel inconsequential, my thanksgiving starts to feel like a worthless gesture. Things which seemed all-important only a moment before are reduced to insignificance. Before the almighty God, I am too starstruck to speak.

But the amazing thing about God is that He still wants to hear us. Impossible as it may seem, our problems are significant to Him—not because they are too big for Him to handle, but because they are ours. Our thanksgiving and worship are sweet fragrances to Him, not because we have so much to offer, but because we are willing to give it.

The awesome truth is that we can approach God with boldness because He loves us. Even when you worry your anxieties are beneath Him or that your failures render you unclean, God still wants to hear from you. God is worthy of your reverence, to be sure—but you don’t have to be starstruck.