It May Be Bad, It May Get Worse – But Trust In Jesus That It Will Get Better!

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.’ (Psalm 40:4); ‘<David said,>”I desire to do Your will, my God; Your law is within my heart.”’ (Psalm 40:8); ‘Do not withhold Your mercy from me, Lord; may Your love and faithfulness always protect me.’ (Psalm 40:11)

Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, on 25 October 1986, was supposed to be the day the Curse of the Bambino (aka Babe Ruth) was going to be broken once and for all. The Boston Red Sox had two outs in the 10th inning, leading the New York Mets 5-3, before the Mets rallied to tie the game.

With runners on first and third, a lazy ground ball was hit to the Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner. It was a routine play that normally would have ended the inning and gave Boston another chance to close the game out in the 11th inning. Instead, the ball went under Buckner’s glove, the Mets scored the winning run, and the next day New York won Game 7 and the Series.

For Bill Buckner, it was undoubtably the lowest point of his career. A professional ball player for over 20 years, he was a dependable everyday player who consistently made good plays. That one bad play on the biggest stage of baseball, however, was something that he was infamous for, until the Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004 finally took the sting out of his mishandling of that ground ball.

For Buckner, though, it was not the end. He played several more years before becoming a real estate developer in Idaho. He continued to be invited back for reunions with his teammates, so until he passed away in 2019 he did not allow his misplay to define him or his life.

The entirety of Psalm 40, a lamenting psalm of David, is one that he likely wrote when he was in a bad circumstance, like getting chased into the wilderness running for his life when Saul wanted to kill David.  Sometimes our circumstances turn out bad due to our own doing and sometimes circumstances turn out bad because of someone else making a bad choice.  God does not always keep us from making bad choices, nor does he keep us from experiencing bad things.  However, the Lord is with us when we go through these events, to provide guidance and courage to meet these events head on.

Sometimes the Lord will not ‘save’ us from our bad experiences, but He will stand besides us so our Faith is strengthened in Him.  God did not spare those faithful to Him when the exile of Israel to Babylon occurred, but instead told His faithful to flourish in exile.  Jesus’ disciples, especially His Apostles, did not escape harm, turmoil, or hardship – and neither will we.  However, Jesus will be with us through the resolution of the issues at hand and will both aid us to provide help and relief, and use us to glorify Himself as examples of His power and love. 

David’s situation was bad, but it improved – with the Lord at his side! It may get bad, and it may even get worse; don’t give up – on yourself or on Jesus.  What we see here is not the end result, but the beginning of something better.