"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."
Hard times
See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me! Psalm 25:19The Psalmist is having a hard time:
He feels that everyone hates him (v 19);
He feels like an animal caught in a snare (v 15);
He feels lonely (v 16);
He is afflicted, troubled in heart, in anguish and distress (v 16-18).
I am sure we have all been there. In the performance-driven world of sport where you are only as good as your last game/race/competition, where your failure has only been seen by 50,000 in the stadium, not to mention millions on TV, when the coach does not select you, it is natural to feel alone, useless or unfairly treated.
In the difficult situation, the Psalmist turns to God with a simple prayer: Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you.(v 20-21).
When the hard times come we have to hang in there. If we can hang in there, and maintain our integrity while saying with the Psalmist: “you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long”, then we can get through it.