TGOL: When = We Drop the Ball Psalm 51= :1-12

This morning, we continue looking at the Psalms throug= h the lens of sports with the intention of discovering truth about life. Last Sunday, we remembered those t= imes “when we don’t get picked” and the loneliness that results from being left out.

For many people, loneliness is a constant battle. The Lord knows and understands our needs, so the Bible has a lot to say about loneliness. He intends for His church, you and= me, to be part of His solution in the lives of lonely people.

Today, we bring up another painful topic. It hurts whether we personally “dropped the ball” or it was the guy playing for our team who dropped it…and wouldn’t you know it, on the very last play of t= he game! Don’t you just ha= te that!

How would you like to be the player responsible for ca= tching the ball on this team?:

Article by Tom Jackson: “In= a league where the quarterback and the receivers must both contribute to make a pote= nt passing attack, Matt Hasselbeck has had to resort to taking out ads in the classifieds for someone whose hands he can trust. Over the years that Hasselbeck has= been a starter for the Seahawks, the receivers were notorious for dropping the b= all.”

I think it’s safe to say that’s not what those receivers want to = be known for! They get paid R= 20;big bucks” for catching the ball, not dropping it! It gets worse. How would you like to show up in an headline like this, complete with photos?!?:

Steve Smith's dropped pass is bad remi= nder of Giants' receiving woes

BY Ralph Vacc= hiano
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Sunday, August 30th 2009, 2:04 AM

3D"Steve

McIsaac/Getty

If you know Steve Smith—to pick up on what we talked about last week--he could probably use a friend about now.

Ever thought= what it would be like to miss a catch like that and then have it show up in the newspapers and Sports Illustrated and ESPN? It’s great when you make the catch, of course, but it’s tough when you drop the ball. And we all drop the ball at times;= in one way or another, we all do.

Think about = this, though. If your dropped ball = got recorded for posterity, where would you rather see it—on television a= nd the sports pages…or in the Bible? I didn’t try to make an exact count, but it seems to me we fin= d a lot more dropped balls in the Bible than we do completions.

Let’s = see, we start with Adam and Eve. T= hey sure dropped the ball. How ab= out their children? Cain slew his brother Abel. The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—they all seemed to have fingers made of but= ter! In fact, the Bible teaches th= at the only one who never dropped the ball is Jesus. Everybody else seems to drop more = than they catch!

So with that= , let’s turn now to the 51^st Psalm.&nbs= p; All of us drop the ball sometime, and we discover here what to do af= ter we’ve dropped it. Now, = just in case we don’t know what this is in reference to, those who compiled the Psalms share with us this insight:

Psalm 51:1-12 For the director of music. <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him= after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. (By the way, this is King Davi= d, not Letterman.)

In other words, Cara and Jamie, don’t sing th= is Psalm when the preacher is speaking on some happy subject. This is about sin and brokenness.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> This is King David’s prayer = after he “dropped the ball” big time:

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
       according to your unfailing love;
       according to your great compassion
       blot out my transgressions.

² Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight, <= br> so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.

⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceiv= ed me.

⁶ Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost plac= e.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than sno= w.

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice= .

⁹ Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me= .

¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sust= ain me.

David didn’t play football—not the American or European kind—ha= dn’t even been invented yet. Inste= ad, David was into sling shots. He could “chuck the rock” with the best of them, which was a good thing since missing a shot for David could mean getting eaten by a lion or speared by Goliath.

(By the way, I heard about one coach who tried to inspire his players by remind= ing them that David had been a forty-point underdog against Goliath. That turned out fine for David. I don’t know how it worked o= ut for the team, though.)

Well, David handled those pressures just fine—even when he had to play the giants, the lions, and da’ bears.&nb= sp; So what got him? Seein= g his neighbor’s beautiful wife taking a shower—this is what got the = best of him.

I guess you could say David got distracted.&= nbsp; The sports commentators would no doubt describe for us how David took his eyes off the ball—that’s why he dropped it! If you’re interested, you ca= n read the whole story in II Samuel 11-12.

Anyway, the 51^st Psalm is David’s prayer of confession after his m= oral fumble with Bathsheba. David = knew God, and he knew better; but when he dropped the ball and the prophet Nathan confronted him with his sin, David also knew what he had to do about it. Let’s see what we can learn = for those inevitable times when we drop the ball.

First, notice that David didn’t make any excuses. There is no mincing of words, for example, in verse 3: “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is alw= ays before me.”

One thing we learn from participating in sports is that everyone drops the ball sometime--or misses the shot, or hits the ball out of bounds or over the ba= ck line. Every sport has its own= equivalent to dropping the ball, and every player is guilty of doing it.

The difference in “the game of life” is that the consequences are so much greater when we’re playing for keeps, in other words, when it’s really not “just a game.” Sports teach us that we all drop t= he ball. Life does, too; only in= life, it’s called “sin.”

T= he famous coach, John Heisman, is quoted as having said to his team, “Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fu= mble this football.”

That sounds pretty tough; but if we see life from a Biblical perspective, we rea= lize that the penalty for sin is severe as well, for “the wages of sin is death.” And it only tak= es one infraction to get you thrown out of the game of life.

The penalty for just one sin—and in my life and yours, there are lots of = them—but here’s the thing: any one of them will do us in. There are no big and little penalt= ies (5 yards vs. 15) in the game of life. It’s never a matter of who’s worse than the other person= , or who’s better. All have sinned; and the wages of sin is death.

Now, if this doesn’t seem fair to you, you’ll have to take it up with God. These are His rules, you= see, and there’s no indication that He’s about to change them for yo= u or me. And there’s no way = to appeal the decisions God makes. His judgment is final.

So, what David did is what you and I also need to do: we must admit that weR= 17;ve dropped the ball, and that it’s nobody’s fault but our own. And no, that’s not an easy t= hing for us to do.

Everything within us wants to say that we didn’t do it or to put the blame elsew= here. But that didn’t work for Ada= m and Eve, and it won’t work for us either. Most of us, though, will still liv= e in denial for as long as we can possibly stand it.

There’s a better way. David first had= to be confronted by the prophet Nathan, but he finally humbled himself, admitted = his need, and expressed it in our Psalm for today: “I KNOW my transgressions.” The Ki= ng James says, “I ACKNOWLEGE my transgressions.” (v.3) David admits to dropping the ball.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> No more excuses. “MY BAD!” he says, R= 20;My bad.”

David got past his denial and realized his need when he wrote: “Have mercy = on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compas= sion blot out my transgressions. W= ash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” (v.1-2)

This is so important, friends. It&= #8217;s called “repentance.” This is when we face up to our sin, confess the pain it has caused G= od, as well as ourselves and others; and then we turn away from it. Don’t you hear this in David’s confession?

Listen to verse four: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justifi= ed when you judge.”

King David understood the consequences of his sin, and so must we. Like David, we must confess before= God our sin. This is the only way= for us to get back into His game of life!

And then there’s another side of repentance—faith. Repentance is confessing our sin a= nd turning away from it. Faith is turning trustingly to Christ and embracing Him as our Savior.

David was still looking forward to the Messiah, but listen to his expressions of faith in this Psalm. In verse= two: “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”

And in verse seven: “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”&nbs= p; And in verse ten: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew= a steadfast spirit within me.”

You hear David asking God to do for him what he knows he cannot do for himself. This is faith. This is saying to the Lord, “= ;It’s bigger than I am, and I can’t handle this on my own. I need you in my life, Lord. I now depend on You, and not me.&#= 8221;

I thought about this last week, wondering what the connection might be with athletics. This is the though= t that came to me. You’ll have= to decide if it’s relevant in your life.

I thought about how many times I’ve heard a coach describe a player as being “coachable.” Have you heard that word used? It’s a compliment. It means the player will listen and try to learn from his coach and do what his coach is asking of him.

Otherwise, it’s obvious the player doesn’t feel he needs a coach. He already knows all he needs to k= now, so he ignores his coach. He&#= 8217;s “uncoachable.” Th= is is the downfall of so many otherwise very talented players. You see the connection, don’= t you?

Have you ever thought of Jesus Christ as being our “life coach?” When we finally realize our need t= o be forgiven and to live a life that is pleasing to God, we discover that God s= ent His Son not only to die for our sin but also to demonstrate how to live.

Christ desires to show us how to be better at life than we are now. He wants to “coach us”= toward what He calls “Abundant Life”--so we don’t drop the ball = as often…and so we can experience the thrill of winning in “the ga= me of life.”

As I was thinking about all of this, I went back and read our text again; and there was verse twelve. It wa= s leaping off the page: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Life doesn’t always go our way. But there is a source of joy and sustenance and salvation…if we have spirits that are willing to receive it—if, in our relationship w= ith God, we’re “coachable.”

Are you ready to humble yourself before God and receive by faith the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be your Savior, Lord, and Life Coach? It does not matter how many balls you’ve dropped in the past. What matters is if you will say yes to Him now. Will you let Him forgive you now?<= /p>

Will you yield your life to His control so that He can coach you and form you in= to the person, the witness, the steward, the servant, He wants you to be? (Lord, give us willing spirits, tha= t we might receive and truly experience the joy of your salvation.)