Pitiful, but Planned...for my Good

In a comment yesterday, Ralph wondered why Phillies fans are always so cautious about the hopes we have for our team. Well, Ralph, did yesterday's 8th inning give you an answer?

Yesterday's game was pitiful. Actually, it was only the bottom of the 8th inning that was pitiful. But that inning was so pitiful that it was enough to make an entire game pitiful (and maybe an entire series).

I was still a bit irritated about it all this morning, when the Lord brought to mind Proverbs 16:33,

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

The image of casting lots is far-removed for us, but to put it in modern terms: The dice are rolled in Las Vegas, and every result is from the Lord. God governs all things in the universe, even something as seemingly random and irrelevant as the roll of the dice. And if that is so of dice in Vegas, it's also true of errant throws in Los Angeles.

God is working all things for the good of His people (Romans 8:28). That good is, according to the next verse, conforming us to the image of Jesus. Given the scope of "all things" highlighted in Proverbs 16:33, I should have confidence that God is working for my good in the miserable defensive display yesterday afternoon.

What kind of good? Maybe reminding me that I shouldn't put my hope of anything in a multi-millionaire second baseman who probably doesn't know Jesus Christ in a saving way. Chase Utley's got a need far greater than simply getting the ball smoothly to first base, and that's what really ought to concern me.

Will that help when Game 3 begins tomorrow night? I sure hope so. Baseball is fun, but it's a game. The people playing who we so admire and get frustrated by, they are real people in need of a real Savior. That is infinitely more important than whether the Phillies can make it back to the World Series.