In football, most of the plays are called by the coaches. It used to be done by signs. The quarterback would get the signs and relay those to his team in the huddle. Now a lot of that is done with technology - the helmet has an audio feature so he can get a play that way... But often, the play that the coach wanted in not the play that the quarterback ends up using. Often the quarterback has to call an audible...
What’s an audible? An audible is a play that is changed and that gets changed at the last minute. The quarterback lines up with his offense, and he notices that the defense is ready to sack him, or he notices that the defense is ready for the run - and so in response to what he sees, he changes the play, he calls an audible and he tells his team - “We were going this way, but not anymore, now we are doing this...”
Any team can memorize plays and execute - but teams that can learn to hear an audible and change or adapt - those are the teams that are great! In your life spiritually the same is true...
Lets face it - life is full of audibles! The plans that we make are almost comical. Change happens. Uncertainty comes and we are forced to adapt. We are forced to call a totally different play than we had planned on using.
The past few weeks as a nation we’ve been dealing with an amazing amount of uncertainty. Our financial markets are teetering on the edge of jeopardy. Depending on who you listen to, one moment we might be okay if we do this... The next moment though is different. This past week, the President spoke to the nation warning of the crisis and telling us his plan for a bailout - the next day congress voted it down! The stock market plummeted. Things don’t always go according to plan.
In your life that is true too... I remember as Dana and I were ready to take our first child home from the hospital. Literally, we had laid his clothes out - you know that first little set of baby clothes that you’ve got for them to go home in - and we go to pick him up from the nursery, and we see some doctors and several nurses all huddled over one child. Imagine the shock when we realized, wait, that’s our child - thats Caleb! It turns out that he had caught a potentially life threatening virus and he needed to be kept at the hospital for at least 10 days... Instead of taking him home, we walked upstairs as they put him in the baby ICU unit. It seems so simple now, but then it was really scary...
We love to plan out things. We plan our life, our future, our now - but the truth is - life is pretty uncertain. Honestly, you never know what is coming next! So how will you handle the audibles? How do you handle the changes that come your way? How do you handle it when it doesn’t go according to plan?
In the book of Job we meet a man who has everything. Wealth, Land, Family - everything... And in one instant - one snap of the fingers - its all gone. If you read the first chapters of Jon you hear a man get more bad news than any of us could possibly take ...and it just keeps coming.
You know what most of us do when things don’t go according to plan? Here are the top three...
Fear - we start fearing things. We wait for the next shoe to drop. We become uncertain and afraid of everything and everyone...
Blame - this is one of my personal favorites. When things don’t go right we look for someone to blame. Who’s fault is this? Who did this to us? and we are really good at pointing the finger...
Worry - this goes hand in hand with fear. Uncertainty fuels our worry. We grow anxious and think that we will never survive. Panic sets in...
Job had some of all of that by the way - that stuff is human nature - its natural! When things don’t go according to plan that stuff is all normal... But listen to Job 13:14-16... (Read Text)
Ultimately, Job said, I place my trust in God. He can kill me if he wants - he can take everything away. I might die, but my hope is in Him.
As I looked at this passage this week, it reminded me of a favorite of mine in Philippians 4:4-9. (Read Text)
I think there are three real questions - as tough times come - as audible in your life get called...
1) What is the source of your joy? 2) When difficult times come do you turn away from God or do you turn to God? 3) Are you focusing on the good things or are you settling for lesser thoughts?
Difficult times are going to come. So what is the source of your joy? What do you rejoice in... Job had a lot of stuff and a great life, but his greatest asset was his God. The thing he rejoiced in the most was his God!
Paul says, “rejoice in the Lord always” and I think we hear Rejoice and we forget the “In the Lord” part! If you build your life on anything other than God, when tough times come you will crumble. Your joy should be in Him! He is your rock and your salvation. Your hope. Your life ...nothing else!
So when you are worried, it is natural to turn to him. So many of us turn to everything else... We worry and worry and worry - because we are unable to give anything to God! Paul says that we can turn to God in our distress and find his peace. We can find a peace that is beyond understanding - but listen.. It doesn’t comes from within, it only comes from God!
Paul concludes by reminding us of our focus - I see this as a continuation of his thought... If you focus on the right things, then you can weather whatever storm comes your way! We tend to look for someone who is at fault. We cry foul and we panic and we look for someone to attach all the mess to... Paul says change your focus. Keep your focus on the good things. Look for the positive things. Look for where God is working and focus on that...
I’m going to close up... One last thing though - The key to success with audibles is preparation. At the line of scrimmage, you aren’t inventing a new play - all you are doing is calling out a different play based on the game situation... Your whole team leans on the practice, the repetitions that have gone before!
The same is true in your life... The time to begin getting ready for life’s audibles is now.
What’s the source of your joy? Are you turning to God or are you turning away trying to handle more and more on your own? And what’s the focus of your attention?
Maybe today its time to turn your life over to him...
