"Don't Run Off Tackle Left"
Psalm 81
Jeremiah 2: 4-13
The 81st Psalm we’re about to read is called a “festival song.” It was written with the intent that
it be chanted or sung at the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, when the grapes were in the presses, and
when the worshipers hearts were brimming over with thanksgiving for the gathered harvest.
Yet you’ll notice that there is an abrupt change halfway through verse 5 of this festival song.
While the first five verses comprise a hymn-like call to worship, the remainder of the Psalm shifts to
a divine oracle; more prophetic than priestly. God inspires the words of the author – words of
remembrance; words of warning; words of lament, and finally, words of promise.
(Read Psalm 81)
It’s football season. Imagine we’re in the Anytown Antelopes locker room just minutes before
the kickoff for game one of the playoffs. The air is filled with the pungent aroma of analgesic balm.
Pieces of athletic tape littering the floor add to each step a sequential squishing and rasping sound.
In one corner, a lineman bangs with his fists on the shoulder pads of the running back he’ll soon be
protecting. The team is salty as they’ve already been through a grueling ten game schedule. The
films of the opposing team have been studied. Playbooks are memorized. Ankles and wrists are
secured with tape. All is ready. Coach Earl has just a few final words for the offensive team, and
especially for his standout quarterback who will be calling his own plays this evening. “Now don’t
forget, avoid the left side of the Raiders’ defensive line, or they’ll seal our fate. Don’t run off tackle
left. Don’t play into the left flat unless the right is sealed. They have too much size and speed over
there. Instead, keep the ground game moving to the right. Now, get out there and kick some butt!”
Well, wouldn’t you know it. For twenty-four minutes of football, the Antelopes and their stand-
out quarterback take their running game where? To the left side. And their fate is indeed being
sealed, just as Coach Earl had warned: negative fifteen yards rushing for the half; two interceptions;
a running back and tight end injured. And the score at halftime – Raiders 17, Antelopes 0.
Now we’re back in the Antelopes locker room at halftime. The aroma of analgesic balm is over-
whelmed by the scent of perspiration. There is considerably less enthusiasm as the boys sit quietly
on hard benches swigging Gatorade. Coach Earl walks in. The players eyes are cast downward to
the floor because they know coach is going to go even more ballistic than he has for the last twenty
four minutes on the sideline. He slowly takes off his cap, runs his fingers through his sweat-
drenched hair, shakes his head, and begins to speak in a low voice: “Earlier in the season, I told you
to stay away from the left side of the Raider’s defensive line. You did it, and we won. Tonight, I tell
you the same thing. But no, you don’t listen. Instead, you’re playing to the cameras and the cheer-
leaders, and you’re getting beat up. If you would do what I tell you, this game would be ours. You
can still win this. But it’s up to you.” With that, he puts his cap back on, turns and leaves the room.
You can almost hear a pin drop.
In the 81st Psalm, beginning at the 6th verse, God can be likened to a wise coach talking to his
headstrong team at a point of crisis. God is indeed speaking to the nation of Israel at a crisis point;
reminding them, warning them, lamenting over them, promising them. He begins by reminding
the squad of their release from slavery in Egypt: “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your
hands were freed from the basket. In distress, you called, and I rescued you.” God wants the
people to remember what has been done for them. God instructed them through a standout team
leader named Moses. Moses and the rest of the squad listened to and followed God’s game plan
faithfully. And by listening and following, they escaped generations of forced labor and oppression
under the heavy hand of the pharaohs. Historically, faithfulness to God’s instruction – to God’s
word – meant liberation and victory.
On the other hand, to disregard or disobey God’s coaching would lead to certain defeat. In
Israel’s case, it would lead them into a life of worship before false gods; bondage to counterfeit
religions and cults of personality; acceptance of flawed values and perverted justice; ultimately
slaughter at the hands of nations which would once again force the people of God into the utter
misery of slavery. And God speaks words of admonition or warning starting at verse 8: “Hear, O
my people, while I admonish you; O Israel, if you would but listen to me! There shall be no
strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.” In other words: Don’t do this
thing! Don’t go chasing after that which is false and unwholesome and injurious! If you would just
listen to my counsel, you wouldn’t find yourselves in the midst of crisis. You wouldn’t find yourselves
getting beaten up by running to the wrong side.
God laments the headstrong team and its leaders beginning at verse 11: “But my people did
not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn
hearts, to follow their own counsels.” The very heart of God is broken by the actions of God’s
people. God does, and does again – scouting for God’s people; defining their mission; developing
a playbook which assures victory. Yet they throw it back in God’s face. They disobey. They turn
away to their own devices. God says, “Run right!” They in turn run left, playing to all the diversion
on the sidelines. And they limp and hobble both on and off the field. And God looks on with a mixture of disgust and sorrow.
Very much the same sentiment is expressed in our reading from the
prophet Jeremiah. As they’re heading into exile, Jeremiah is inspired to write “Be appalled, O
heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed
two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that can hold no water.” There’s a crack in the cooler, and the Gatorade is running out all over the place.
Yet even in the midst of rebellion, disobedience, crisis and brokenness, God’s promises – God’s
game plan -- for God’s people remains firm and unchangeable. The Psalmist continues at verse 13:
“O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! Then I would quickly
subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the Lord would
cringe before him, and their doom would last forever. I would feed you with the finest of the
wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” To God’s people, God says: This game
can still be yours. It’s up to you.
For we who play in the game of life on the field as God’s team many seasons later, there is much
spiritual truth running behind the lines of this festival Psalm numbered 81. We, in our season, are
given God’s word – God’s plan – through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can discern which way God
wants us to go when we study the holy Scriptures, illumined by the Spirit of the word incarnate,
who is Jesus Christ. Each week, we attend worship and hear God’s game plan laid out in hymns,
liturgies and prayers. We hear God’s playbook read and interpreted. Yet how often we find ourselves running
plays at odds with that playbook and game plan? We hear God’s call to be faithful in all things. But we waver in our faith,
and are sacked behind the line of scrimmage of worldly pressures which challenge and contradict that faith.
For instance, God’s plan clearly calls for us to forgive not once, or even seven times, but
“seventy times seven.” Yet we often struggle to hit the hole of genuine forgiveness, even once to
someone who has wronged us. God sends us onto the field to respond to God’s love by being a
generous people, giving freely as we are able of our time, our talents, our treasures. Yet we
withhold what we could offer. We find ourselves too busy for Bible study; too overloaded for a
leadership or service role in the church. Church is too often second or third string in our priorities, or
even benched. God breaks the huddle and sends us to the line of scrimmage to love our neighbor as
we love ourselves. Instead, we find ourselves judging our neighbor while seeking from them some
yardage we might gain. God sends us on a route of showing compassion, but we become too busy
running a different pattern of our own will and for our own benefit.
When we act in opposition to God’s plan; when we disobey God’s word; when we run contrary
to God’s perfect example in Christ; when we chase after and worship other gods who are no gods
at all, be they power, money, success, glory; before the final whistle which ends the game, we
suffer the consequences, as individual players and as a team. Have we not sometimes found ourselves in crisis
because we didn’t listen to the voice of the Coach who knows best, and who cares
infinitely for His team? Let’s heed the Head Coach’s voice. Don’t run off tackle left. Amen.