Don't Get Upset

Playoffs are prime time for big upsets. Last year, the San Diego Chargers sat atop the NFL with the best record in football. They had a star running back, a daunting defense, and they had locked up homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. They lost their first playoff game to the #4 seed.

Last season, the Dallas Mavericks were positioned better than they've ever been, closing out the regular season with the best record in the NBA, and one of the best in league history. They had the NBA's MVP and were the heavy favorites to win the championship. They were embarrassed and sent home in the first round of the playoffs by the #8 seed Warriors.

You wonder how things like that happen. But they don't just happen in sports. Big upsets happen in life, too. I found the apostle Paul reminding me of that the other day:

Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraclously through the Sea. . . . But just experiencing God's wonder and grace didn't seem to mean much--most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert. . . (1 Cor. 10:1-5 Message)

They had it all going for them. They had God's MVP deliverer in Moses. They had the power of God on their side. They saw incredible miracles and had to have felt the immediate hand of God on their lives in dramatic ways. But in the end, they died in the desert having never gotten to enjoy the promised land. They were beaten by temptation. I would call that a major upset.

We can encounter God and expect things from him, yet never learn to trust God and submit our lives to him. That is a formula for heartbreaking personal defeat. I love experiential worship, to feel the presence of God as I praise him. I'm intoxicated by the brush of God on my life when he moves powerfully in my circumstances or through my ministry to others. But those experiences of God are supposed to lead me to a posture of submitting to his will. That is what is what will maximize the joy and satisfaction of my life. There is no way I should lose.

God, because of you I have so much going for me. I submit gladly to you. I refuse to let my life be upset in defeat by giving in to sin.