Confidence in the Cowboys?

I don’t remember when my loyalty to the Dallas Cowboys started. I would guess I was about 11, when I realized there was a football team that shared my love for horses. The Dallas Cowboys. Fast forward ten years or so, having graduated from college in Ohio, I moved to Dallas. Was it my love for the Cowboys or the great job that drew me to Dallas? You decide.

So when the Packer-Cowboy game happened last Sunday, I had full confidence that my Cowboys would win. Even when the Cowboys were behind 21-3, I knew they would come back, which they did. They just didn’t come back and win. Bummer.

Where do I place my confidence? Where do you place your confidence? Your kids and their performance? Your career? Your degrees? Being in shape? Being accepted and approved by others? Your reputation? Your relationships? Your accomplishments? A football team?

When we place our confidence in the inevitable uncertainties in life, we will eventually be disappointed. My natural bent is to place my confidence in other people or things. Yet, I have been profoundly disappointed when I do that. I have found, over the years, that there is One who will never fail me or let me down. God is my confidence. He is worthy of my trust. In fact, He will never come up short or ever let me down. Why? Because He is God and can be trusted.

Feeling weak and inadequate can actually draw us to rely on God. It’s during these difficult times, we realize our need! That’s not a bad thing. I’m reminded in Jeremiah 17:7 that “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.”  Where do you place your hope? What would it look like to trust God in every area of your life? You will be blessed as you make God your trust.

“For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth, I have relied on you.”  Psalm 71:5-6

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.