"God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast and when I run, I feel his pleasure."
Psalm 3
My shieldBut you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. Psalm 3:3
In reading the Psalms and applying them to sport, it is easy to fall into the trap of seeing sport as a matter of life and death. The great sports broadcaster, Richie Benaud, used to berate colleagues for using the word “tragedy” in a sports commentary. He said that the loss of the Titanic was a tragedy, famine in Africa is a tragedy; whatever it was, losing a cricket match was not a tragedy!
The context of so many of David’s Psalms was that his very life was in danger. So when he says God was his shield it has a literal sense of saving his life.
That said, there are three principles in this Psalm that we can apply to our sports life:
The Lord is a shield around us. We can pray for His protection and be sure that nothing can touch us that he does not permit. As Paul writes in Romans 8, if God is for us who can be against us.
God is our glory. That puts our sporting successes and failures, triumphs and struggles in context.
God is the one who lifts our head high. Our talent comes from God. When we succeed it is right and proper to give Him the glory and to recognize the source of our ability. That should keep us humble and gracious.