TGOL: When the Pressure’s On

The Game of Life: When the Pressure’s On = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; Psalm 56:1-8

We come this morning to Week 3 of our four-part series on “The Game of Life.” Now, for those o= f you who are not sports fans—thank you for being patient with the rest of us. I hope you are finding th= ese messages from the Psalms relevant to your life, even if you cannot really r= elate to the images from athletics.

Life is a wonderful privilege. It’= ;s truly a gift from God; but like athletic competition, it can be tough. And the games don’t always g= o our way.

On Week 1, we looked at several passages from the Psalms dealing with loneliness—because sometimes “we don’t get picked.”= When we DO get in the game, however= , we may end up “dropping the ball;” so last week, we looked at David’s prayer of confession in Psalm 51.

If all of th= is gives you the impression that life can be stressful…well, this is our focus today as we look at Psalm 56 and the topic, “When the Pressure’s On.” Sometimes the only thing that separates the great athletes from so m= any other good ones is their ability to handle pressure.

There are go= lfers who consistently make that five foot putt when the match is on the line. Others choke; some of us, in fact—and I know this from personal experience--even when absolutely nothing is on the line, we can’t seem to make those five footers!

Or how about= that batter at the plate whose team is a couple of runs behind, the bases are loaded, and there’re two out in the ninth inning. That’s pressure.

Taking the f= inal shot with the game on the line—remember that turn around jump shot Christian Laettner made for Duke at the buzzer? We’ll remember that shot for = a long time, won’t we?

To me, thoug= h, this would be a real tough position to be in.&n= bsp; It’s the last play of the game, your team is behind by two poi= nts, and they bring in the field goal kicker!&n= bsp;

I watched a = couple of weeks back as my Furman Paladins, playing against the top team in their conference this year, Elon, took the lead with just a minute and fifty-six seconds left in the game.

The touchdow= n made the score 12 to 10—Furman; but, alas, the extra point was blocked! You know what’s coming after= that! Elon had a good return on the ensu= ing kickoff—of course! They completed a few = quick passes; and then, with just seconds remaining on the clock, they brought in their kicker.

Now, there a= re so many things that can go wrong in a situation like this. There can be a bad snap from center. The holder can mishan= dle the ball. The kicker can hook= it or shank it. In fact, Furman cal= led time out twice to give everyone on Elon’s team time to ponder all the things that could go wrong. <= o:p>

But the ONE = thing that WENT wrong--from the perspective of all the Furman fans--is that none = of those other things did go wrong. The scoundrel made that kick, and we lost the game--heartbreak!

How dare they handle all that stress and pressure so well! After that, anything else those pla= yers encounter in life should be a breeze, right? Well, in today’s Psalm, we f= ind David in a pressure-packed situation—a life-and-death situation, in fact. Look with me, please, a= t the first eight verses on Psalm 56:

Psalm 56:1-8: Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. ² My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride.

³ When I am afraid, I will trust in you. ⁴ In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? ⁵ All day long they twist my words; they are always plotti= ng to harm me.

⁶ They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life. ^=
7 On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, bring down the nations= . ⁸ Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll--are they not in your record= ?

David composed this Psalm when the pressure was on in = his life. He says he was being “hotly pursued,” “attacked,” “plotted against,” and “slandered.” Life is not good. His stress level is off the charts= ! What’s going on?

Well, we find a clue in the inscription to this Psalm which says: “When the Phili= stines had seized him in Gath.” This was actually one of sev= eral stressful situations in David’s life. We heard about one last week, but = this predates the episode with Bathsheba.

David’s early years were spent as a shepherd boy, tending his family’s flock.= That had its stressful moments too= —for instance, when wild animals attacked the flock. This is when David got so good wit= h his sling, remember?--which was a good thing, because he later had to go up aga= inst the heavily-armed Phillistine giant Goliath, and that sling was his only we= apon.

David overcame that pressure-packed encounter and kill= ed Goliath; but this made him a national hero, which did not set well with King Saul. The king was so jealous= of David he made several attempts on his life.

David chose to get out of town. He went all the way to the distant= city of Gath= where he was sure Saul would never find him.&nbs= p; One little problem, though. <= /span>Gath was a Philis= tine city—and the people there all remembered what David had done to Goliath.

So…this was one of those “out of the fryin= g pan and into the fire” situations! His place of refuge had become his prison. If you’re interested, you ca= n find this whole story at the end of I Samuel.

Now, I suppose most of us would find it hard to relate= to the kinds of pressures David is dealing with here. Certainly no “at bat” = or “attempted field goal” comes close to this life-and-death situation. Soldiers on the fr= ont lines in Afghanistan= could relate, and some of you have known such intense pressure; but most of= us haven’t.

On the other hand, we have all felt pressured and perh= aps stressed-out at times. The ga= me of life comes complete with a depressingly long list of anxiety-producing situations.

What are the big ones in your life? Is it your job, finances, relation= ships, or maybe even the things you do for fun—but there’re just too m= any of these fun activities--you do them too often, and they cause you stress.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We bring a lot of needless stress = upon ourselves, friends!

But listen--even if we eliminated every pressure we pu= t on ourselves, we still could not avoid all the stressful situations of life. We need guidance on how to handle = life “when the pressure is on.”&nbs= p; Let’s see what we can learn from David’s example.

1. Notic= e first of all that David is courageous= when the pressure’s on. = He tackles his problems head-on, and exhibits great courage under fire. In this Psalm, David testifies tha= t the source of this courage is his relationship with God.

Wally Butts of the University of Georg= ia once observed that “In Alabama, an atheist is someone who doesn’= ;t believe in Bear Bryant!” Well, it’s often during the stressful times in our lives that = we discover who it is that we believe in.

David declares his faith when he says: “When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.” (vv. 3-4) David’s courage didn’t come from the notion that he was = the biggest, strongest, or meanest player in the game of life. His courage grew directly out of h= is faith in the Lord.

“In God I trust; I will not be afraid.” We put something like this on our = money, right?: “In God We Trust.” But maybe we place more trust in the money it’s printed on than in God.

We all heard a lot of fear expressed--maybe we felt fe= ar personally--during last year’s financial collapse. David’s kind of faith, thoug= h, would remind us that it was only mo= ney that we lost, after all; and that God is still in control!

Maybe you and I could let go of some of our stress if = we embraced God more. Trust Him through those difficult moments. Believe that God is for you no matter what happens. Know that He will never leave you = nor forsake you, and you will discover more courage than you ever thought you c= ould have. David’s strong fa= ith makes him a model of courage for us!

2. Now, a second observation from this Psalm: David is capable when the pres= sure’s on. In stressful situatio= ns, capability is often best expressed in simply being able to cope. Whether it’s the batter at t= he plate, the kicker on the field, or you and me facing the demands of stressf= ul situations in life, ability doesn’t really count for anything if we cannot cope with the pressure.

Does it strike you that we hear a whole lot about stre= ss today? Is life really more stressful for us than it was for generations before us, or have we become w= imps in the face of it? Pressure o= ften leads to panic. We’re tempted= to take desperate measures in an effort to escape the demands on our lives.

Some resort to addictive behaviors, abusing alcohol, d= rugs, or food. Others take out their stress on the people close to them, becoming verbally or physically abusive. The inability to cop= e can lead people to all kinds of irrational reactions that not only provide no lasting relief, but actually compound the strains on our lives and relationships.

What we see in David is not panic. He doesn’t run and hide, aba= ndoning his responsibilities. Instead, building on the courageous faith we talked about earlier, David stands firm= and copes with the pressure in his life.

One day in the funny papers, Charlie Brown, who as you= know, often struggles in his efforts to cope with life, is trying to help his fri= end Linus. “Linus,” he says, “What if everybody ran away from their problems the way you do?” Linus pondered tha= t for a moment, and then replied, “Well, at least we would all be running in the same direction.”

Maybe that would be improvement over what we have now;= but it doesn’t matter what direction we’re moving in, if it’s just our own version of escapism that we’re chasing, we’ll never find any real solutions to those things which frighten us and cause us stre= ss.

David discovered, and so must we, that the only way to solve the problem of stres= s is to name it and stand up to it, and find a way, with God’s help, to co= pe with it. Listen to verse three again: “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.”

David didn’t say that all his fears were conquered. His trust in God enabled him first= to simply cope with them. It wasn’t a “done deal” yet, but a first step toward defeati= ng them. And we have to start somewhere or the stress will eventually defeat us.

3. Now, one other observation about D= avid: David is confident when the pressure’s on. In t= he face of pressure, David demonstrated confidence in God. He says this in verse 4, and again= in verse 11: “…in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”= ;

A lack of confidence is debilitating. Coach Matty Bell once said of his team at SMU, “There’s = one sure way to keep us from scoring—give us the ball near the goal line.” Coach Bell didn’t seem to have much confidence in his offense. Chances are his team didn’t = have much confidence either!

What gave David such confidence in the face of so many adversaries? He was absolutely convinced that G= od was both aware of his need…and deeply concerned about it.

Verse eight is interesting. In the = NIV, it reads, “…list my tears on your scroll--are they not in your record?” It’s a redundant question. David is = confident God knows about his tears.

Listen to this same verse in the RSV: “…put thou my tears in thy bottle…” HereR= 17;s what’s so fascinating. = Archaeologists have uncovered small bottles in ancient tombs which, when analyzed, were fo= und to have once contained human tears.

It seems that every tear was considered sacred. David must have this understanding= as well. God is collecting his t= ears in a bottle. The Almighty is = mindful of his need.

Some of you know the name Tommy Dorsey. <= /span>He wrote the song, “Precious Lord, take my hand;” only we need to understand there were two Tommy Dorseys.&n= bsp; “Precious Lord” was actually written by the Gospel singe= r, not the big band leader. The = story of how the song came about is still quite compelling, though.

The year was 1932. Mr. Dorsey had= left his pregnant wife at home in Chicago to si= ng at a large revival meeting in St.= Louis. As he finished singing, he was han= ded a telegram saying that his wife had had given birth to a boy; but in the proc= ess, she had died. He got back to = Chicago as quickl= y as he could, arriving home only hours before his newborn son also died. He buried the two of them together= in the same casket.

Dorsey surely felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, but it was out of the= pain of that experience that he wrote the song that we find on page 456 of our hymnal. Will you turn to it, please.

Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand!// I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;// Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light, // T= ake my hand, precious Lord, Lead me home.

Life is often pressure-packed; but when the stress is = most intense, God is with us, drawing us close to Himself, filling us with coura= ge and confidence that by His strength and grace and guidance, we can handle t= he pressure. We can cope, and ca= rry on! This is His promise. Believe it!