Have you ever met someone (or been that person) who analyzes everything in every possible way? Tomorrow as most of you know is Super Bowl Sunday. For the past couple of years there has been a two week break between the Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl. This certainly allows the NFL to hype the game. But it also gives analysts too much time on their hands. Tomorrow’s game has been broken down and analyzed in every way imaginable and then some. I am actually waiting on the report to come out about what the teams ate for breakfast on the very first day of training camp, and how that prepared them to play in the Super Bowl. Ok maybe that is a little bit exaggerated, but hopefully you get the point. The thing I have learned from playing, coaching, and even watching sports is this, all the talk in the world will not replace preparation, and all the talk will have very little if any impact on the actual game. Tomorrow at 6:30 ET, the ball will be placed on a tee, both teams will be lined up, the referee will blow his whistle, the ball will be kicked, and we will be underway. What will be done in the next four hours will determine who is the best team in the NFL this year. You might be asking, if that is really the case, then why all of the analyzing, breaking down, and prognostication? The only answer I can come up with is this, they have nothing better to do, and it makes many people feel like they are a part of the game.
The truth is, when we over analyze and over examine things we are a lot like those analysts before the big game. We feel more prepared, we feel like we are doing something useful, but honestly it is going to impact our life very little if any. Please understand, I am not against planning. I believe a wise and prudent person spends time in planning and preparation. But there comes a time in which you must kick the ball so to speak. You have to realize that much of life is out of your control. Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” Solomon is very clear here, men plan and plan, but it is really God who is in control. Again it must be stated, God is not against planning. Rather God is against planning that doesn’t include seeking Him. We see this in James 4:13-16, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.” We must realize that the future is not known to us nor is it in our control. However, just because the future isn’t known to us, doesn’t mean it is unknown. God knows the present and the future because He orders it (He is in control of it). Therefore, any planning or preparation without prayer is futile. If we pray as we plan then our preparation will be focused on what is going to happen versus what we believe will happen.
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him