Come Coach Me Lord

The Lord is… my coach

A Series from the Psalms

Psalm 139

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20139&version=NIV;NLT

 

When I was in full time urban youth ministry, one of the roles I played was that of a boys’ basketball coach.

 

One particular game still sticks in my mind from forty years ago. It was a tight tournament game and one of my players, Terry, was at the free throw line. Because he was feeling the pressure of the moment, he missed his first shot.

 

Sometime during the season I had told the team a joke where the punch line was a number. Don’t worry, I didn’t quit my day job. When Terry stepped to the line for his second shot, I called out to him and said “Hey Terry… 12”. He laughed; turned to the basket; and calmly sank his free throw.

 

A coach has to know his players. He has to know what’s going on inside of them; what motivates them; when to push and when to joke. A coach teaches, leads, pulls and pushes a player to be the best they can be. A coach has to get inside the player’s head so that in a sense, he is with them all the time.

 

David thought of the Lord as if He was his coach.

 

¹ O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.

⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!

¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.      NLT

 

The following prayer is David’s plea for the Lord to keep him accountable; to search his heart; to test him; to know his anxiety; to show him what is offensive and to lead him into what is good; in essence, to come coach him.

 

²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.   NIV

 

We would do well to pray the same prayer, “Come coach me Lord”.