"To God Be the Glory" by Eric Zahnd
“Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us” (Isaiah 26:12).
If you have watched many sporting events, you’ve almost certainly seen this: After a touchdown, home run, or goal, the player glances toward the heavens and points an index finger upward.
It’s often intended as a subtle acknowledgment that somehow God must have been responsible for the good athletic play.
I am tired of this gesture. It now seems cliché, and I sometimes doubt the players’ sincerity, notwithstanding that I have never met one of these elite athletes and know nothing about their faith. Of course, if it’s an Oakland Raider gesturing to God, I know it must be an entirely empty motion, because I feel certain every Raider player is the very personification of evil!
But as I read Isaiah 26:12, I questioned my response to these athletes’ apparent recognition that God was responsible for their successes on the sporting field. Many of these athletes are multi-millionaires. Nearly every material need they have is easily met. They seem to have the world by the tail. And yet, in their gestures and often in their post-game interviews, these athletes “give the glory to God.”
Again, it may be easy for some of us to dismiss their evangelizing, but what if these athletes are serious about crediting our Creator for their on-field successes? Is it possible they are doing something we should emulate?
Isaiah 26:12 reminds us that God is responsible for all we have accomplished. One verse earlier, the text tells us that God’s hand is “lifted high” but many of us simply “do not see it.”
The passage suggests that we can have peace, if only we recognize that our accomplishments (and, I would add, our failures) are in God’s hands. We find peace when we realize that we are not on our own; our successes and our failures, our pains and our triumphs ultimately belong to a loving God who always wants the best for us.
This Christmas season, may we sense holy peace by knowing God’s hand is lifted high in all that we do.
Eric Zahnd