The Rules In Football
1 Kings 8:58
“...that he may incline our hearts to him,”
To be inclined, is to lean toward. What a pleasant thought, for my heart to lean in Your direction. I want that, where ever there is opportunity to lean I want to lean in Your direction.
The rest of the sentence says”... to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers.”
I am ashamed to admit that my first inclination is to buck up against the rules/commandments part of the sentence. I guess I just want it to be about desire, choosing, having my say. But the question is, what am I choosing, what is it I desire? Isn’t this just the point, do I desire Your ways or something else, do I desire You for who You are? Is this not what the rules, commands, and statutes are offering? One cannot desire You and reject Your ways. Your ways are the very expression of who You are.
When I was a kid, I loved football, and in spite of my small size had dreams of playing college or even pro football. We lived in Honduras so there was no live football to see, but every Sunday afternoon I could be found huddled by the short wave radio listening to the weekly broadcast of the game of the week on AFRTS, the Armed Forces Radio and Television network. For what ever reason they seemed to favor the New York Giants and whoever they played that week so the Giants became my favorite team. I was a Y. A. Tittle and Frank Gifford fan, but also knew the name and stats on every player on the team. I read books and talked football with my Dad to learn all I could about football. This dream, desire, drove me to learning all the rules and more importantly to playing by the rules even on the sandlot with my friends. I did not try to make the game into my version of the game or create my own rules. I did not because I wanted to be a football player, not something else. The rules of the game were not a burden imposed on the game. The game of football, as it is played, are defined and summed up in the rules. No rules, no game, just chaos. I can no more play football using the rules of baseball than I can follow Jesus and be inclined to my own or someone else’s rules.
Genesis 1 tells us that God moved over the face of the chaos and imprinted on it order, rules. The laws of nature and the definition of right relationships define creation as an expression of who You are. The core of relationship is desire, but the object of our desire is defined and shaped by rules. When I know the rules and they become embedded in me, when I don’t have to think about them anymore because they have become habit and instinct, it frees me up to play with abandon and even joy. This is the sense I get when I read Psalm 119 where the Psalmist raptures about his love of the laws and precepts of the Lord. This is the rest described in v. 56 of this passage , “ “Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised.”
Morning prayers says it like this, “Incline our hearts to keep Your ways, grant that having cheerfully done Your will this day we may when night comes rejoice and give you thanks.
LHM/CHM
