Always There (Friday Devotional)

 

"For the Lord is good, his love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."

- Psalm 33:4

Yesterday was unquestionably one of my favorite days of the year: Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. With MLB conveniently scheduling the unofficial holiday on my day off, I spent most of the afternoon switching back and forth between games, hanging on every pitch. No highlight escaped my notice, no star was ignored, and every box score was carefully studied before I went to bed last night. I couldn’t get enough.

It was Opening Day, and so I was transfixed by every moment of every game. But here’s the funny thing about professional baseball: all those teams are going to play again today. And again the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that. In fact, virtually every day between now and the first weekend of October, there is going to be at least one baseball game.

As a result, there are going to be plenty of days when the sport doesn’t have the tight hold on my attention that it did yesterday. In the dog days of summer, I will go weeks without even thinking about the Miami Marlins, much less studying their box scores. By September, I probably won’t be able to tell you three players on the roster of the Chicago White Sox. On busy days, even my beloved Texas Rangers will warrant little more than a quick check of that night’s final score.

That’s the beauty of baseball—unlike football, where every game is so consequential that it demands your undivided attention, baseball has 162 games in a season. Fans aren’t expected to live and die with every pitch; that would be unsustainable. Some days you’ll plop down on the couch and watch an entire game from start to finish, some warm afternoons you’ll fall asleep in the 3rd inning, and some days you won’t watch at all. But whether you’re watching or not, baseball is always there.

That kind of constancy reminds me of what the Bible tells us about our God: even when we are inconsistent, fallible, and faithless, his love endures forever. When our devotion to him wanes, his faithfulness remains steadfast. When we are shifting sand, he is a solid rock.

In a life of faith, you will have seasons when you are on fire for the Lord, when your worship is passionate and your obedience is unmatched. But you will also have seasons when you’re barely holding on, when your doubts and fears threaten to consume you. In those times, what a blessing to know that God is unchanged, that he is constant when you are variable. And what a blessing to know that, when your strength is failing, the Lord has more than enough grace for you.

You have good days and bad days, highs and lows. But God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What a blessing to know that, even when we are volatile, the Lord is constant.