“All I know most surely about morality and obligation I owe to football”,
God made me win!
Should we accept good from God and not trouble? Job 2:10I don’t know about you but I am always a bit wary when players and coaches announce that God made them win. To start with, I am not sure God actually chooses who wins. If he does, then he must also be deciding who is going to lose. I think that winning and losing is just part of human experience. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.
God is there and can help us deal with winning or losing. God cares if we win or lose but does he cause it? Not convinced.
So when an athlete thanks God for victory, or dedicates the victory to God is that OK? Yes, but surely we can equally thank God for defeat. If we lose sport, we can honestly thank God for the opportunity to compete.
But I have yet to hear the athlete whose after game comment is, “I want to thank God for my defeat today”. If we only give thanks for winning, do we not risk making God a lucky charm.
I know that we do not train all week to lose but at times God can teach us much from the experience. There is a great truth in Willie John McBride’s words “It matters a great deal who is going to win and very little who has won”.
When Job’s wife urges him to react to his difficulties by cursing God, he replies: “Should we accept good from God and not trouble?” If we are going to thank God for victory, then we need be willing to thank him for defeat too.
Agree?