Do You Need A Hug?

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I remember Hudson’s last year of basketball at Middletown Highschool. At one of the games, in particular, I witnessed an encounter that has had a lasting impression on me. 

Middletown was playing its rival team, and one of the players had transferred over from that team to Middletown. I’m not sure of the details as to why he transferred, but as I watched him play that night, I noticed he was full of nervous energy. It seemed he had a lot to prove in this game. He was all over the court. In general, he was an excellent player and contributed to many of the successes that year, but in this particular game, he began to unravel.  

The referee called several fouls on him back to back, and the coach stopped the game. He brought the player off the court to cool down. I watched as the player slumped in the chair next to the assistant coach, grumbling and contesting. He was heaving, trying to catch his breath, and visibly upset. I looked away for a moment, and when I turned back, I saw the assistant coach, who was a big teddy bear of a guy, wrap his arms around him and begin rocking, holding the player’s head to his chest and calming him like a child. He almost swallowed him up. “Shhh, shhh, shhh.” He repeated over and over. He didn’t let go. No words. No lecture. Just an effort to soothe and calm him. I kept staring, a smile wide across my face. This boy needed a good ole fashion bear hug. And that’s what he got. After a long moment, this tough player, with seemingly a lot on the line, began to respond to the coach’s efforts to comfort him, and he started to relax.  

As I watched, at first, I smiled. Then I chuckled a little bit. I thought, are they even allowed to hug students? He could probably get in trouble for this. But the moment was perfect. His compassion and care for his player moved me. I’m playing over in my mind even now—what a special moment. I don’t know that I’ll ever forget it.

I look around today, and everything seems to be growing dark. I see a lot of confusion. I see turmoil, fear. I see tensions rising and lines being drawn. Many are scrambling to make sense of it all. Many are claiming to know the endgame. In the noise and the fray, my tendency is to collect the data and come to a conclusion of my own. I frantically race to sort it out…all “according to God’s will” of course. If I could just get all the pieces to fit together, if only this or that would come to be, then all will be well. But what I really need is a timeout. I need to STOP.  

STOP! Have a seat.

Do you need to stop?  

Oh, that we would let God wrap us in His embrace and console us with His providential care! Oh, that we would hear His words of comfort and take them in, allowing them to shape our thoughts and renew our minds!

Friends, I have been convicted that God does not desire me to claim His plan as my own and then pile on top of that all the “what if”s and “I hope”s that promise resolution, peace, and safety in the face of trouble. Just lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.  

1Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
2from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I,
3for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.

Psalm 61:1-3 

Friend, I am making it my choice to hope solely in the Lord. To sit down and be swallowed up in His loving embrace. No plan B.

Over the past few days, Psalm 20:7 continues to run through my mind.  

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 

Psalm 20:7

When I become anxious, God says to my heart. “What are you trusting in?” The quick answer is, “You, of course!”  

But the truth might not be so cut and dry. 

This morning, I confessed my struggle to the Lord and He showed His faithfulness to me by pointing me to a verse to start my day.  

Let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love, for in You I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

Psalm 143:8

I am watching the sun warm the horizon, and I’m reminded of His loving, calming embrace.  

He is faithful and good.  

He is steadfast.  

He is full of mercy.  

He is in control.

I pray with the psalmist this morning and invite you to make this your prayer:

3Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!

4Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.

5Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Psalm 43:3-5

Friends, I leave you this morning with a devotion from a book gifted to me by a dear friend called “When You Call Upon The Lord.”  

“In a time of change and crisis, we need to be much in prayer, not only on our knees, but in that sweet form of inward prayer, in which the spirit is constantly offering itself up to God, asking to be shown His will; soliciting that it may be impressed upon its surface as the heavenly bodies photograph themselves on prepared paper. Wrapt in prayer like this, the trustful believer may tread the deck of the ocean steamer night after night, sure that He who points the stars their courses will not fail to direct the soul which has no other aim than to do His will.”   – F.B. Meyer

“We bring upon ourselves many a sorrow by preferring our own way to God’s. His will is the way of peace and highest blessedness.” – Charles Cook