March Madness Delivers Again

When we tune in to watch the NCAA tournament each March, college basketball fans anticipate tight games, phenomenal scoring performances, surprise upsets, and epic moments. So far, that's exactly what we've seen.

Yesterday's games were especially amazing, as Maryland knocked off Colorado State with an unbelievable bank-shot buzzer-beater by Derik Queen, and Arizona hung on to beat Oregon 87-83 in an exciting finish.

Plus, we saw a classic matchup between two schools, each of which had won back-to-back National Championships in their history, as Florida pulled out the win over the reigning 2x Champs, UConn, in a thrilling game.

We knew heading into the tournament that Duke, Auburn, Florida, and Houston were all strong number-one seeds, and all four of them delivered during the first weekend. Duke's Tyrese Proctor displayed his greatness with a career-high seven three-pointers as he continues to show up from beyond the arc.

Every year, we root for upsets, and although this year provided mostly "chalk" and no mid-majors in the Sweet 16, the first round still delivered surprising wins from McNeese, Colorado State, New Mexico, and Drake.

Meanwhile, we got the matchup we hoped for between St. John's and Arkansas, with coaching rivals Rick Pitino and John Calipari. We counted on it to be entertaining, and it was. Arkansas pulled out the upset, ending St. John's impressive season.

Every year, we never know how the games will play out or what teams will keep advancing. However, we do know that the tournament always supplies us with excitement, competitive games, memorable characters, storylines, clutch shots, comebacks, and dramatic moments.

We can't count on our brackets to be correct or games to turn out exactly how we expect them to, but the tournament has historically proven reliable. Every time the ball is tipped to begin another month of madness, we can depend on the tournament to deliver great games!

Despite this being a good time of year for March Madness fans, many of us may finish another week with "busted brackets" in our personal lives. We might be dealing with uncertainty, hoping for circumstances to change, or waiting for God to move.

The encouragement for us today is that God is faithful. Much more so than a basketball tournament, our Lord is reliable, dependable, and always delivers.

We don't know how or when He will do it, and life probably won't play out exactly how we expected it to, but God and His Word can be counted on.

Psalm 33:4 (NIV) declares, "For the Word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does."

Every day, when we turn to Him and follow His ways, He comes through for us by providing strength, grace, mercy, and love.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV) says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

Throughout history and our lives, God has been faithful to His people. We have every reason to trust Him and expect Him to deliver on His promises. Again and again, He supplies our needs and gives us tremendous blessings beyond what we deserve.

John 1:16 (AMP) tells us, "For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift]."

As we get ready for another weekend of March Madness, our excitement will build because we know we can count on something awe-inspiring to take place.

But even more than that, we can depend on God's greatness in our lives as we "tune in" to witness His glory shine through while we experience His faithfulness over and over again.

So, in the days and weeks ahead, "Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His Word]…" (Hebrews 10:23; AMP).

I'm Bryce Johnson, and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I praise You for Your faithfulness. You are worthy of being trusted, and I thank you for being so reliable and dependable. You have come through for me over and over again and filled my life with so many undeserved blessings. You are such a good God, and I thank You for always providing love, grace, mercy, and strength. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.