When watching a recent Atlanta Braves telecast, the announcers were discussing slumps and how pitch selection plays such a big part. During a hitting slump, one of the main problems comes when a player isn't swinging at good pitches. A slumping batter will let the good ones go by and then swing at the ones out of the zone. A sure-fire recipe for a slump is swinging at the wrong pitch. Hall of Famer and baseball hit king, Ted Williams, described this in his book, The Science of Hitting. He said, “A good hitter can hit a pitch that is over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a questionable ball in a tough spot.” Williams includes a picture of himself at bat and a strike zone filled with 77 squares - each the size of a baseball. When Williams swings at a ball in his sweet spot, he gets a hit 40% of the time. If he swings at balls out of his sweet spot, he only gets a hit 23-25% of the time. That's pretty much the difference in being a Hall of Fame hitter and a replacement level big leaguer...hence the baseball phrase, “Wait for your pitch.” As followers of Jesus, we often have periods of waiting. We’re waiting to finish school...or to meet our spouse...or to get that job promotion...or to begin retirement...or for that baby to be born. These can be tough situations that make us feel very distant from God. Often when we find ourselves in a slump, we may want to start swinging at pitches "out of the zone." But, that's when we get out of our "sweet spot" and out of God's will. There is purpose in the delay, and the right pitch is on its way if we just wait for it. With faith we proclaim, "I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in His Word, I put my hope" (Psalm 130:5 - NIV). As we turn to the Scripture, we are quickly reminded of God’s power and deliverance. We can take great comfort that He hears us and is with us as we wait. Psalm 40:1-2 (NLT) says, "I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along."
Today, let's be willing to wait for the "right pitch" instead of being impatient and swinging at pitches that will lead to a strikeout. Let's keep looking for the pitch in our sweet spot...even if it takes a little longer.
I’m Aaron May and you can unpack that!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help me with impatience and getting out of Your will or trying to get ahead of Your plans. I pray I would trust You as I wait and put all of my hope in You to deliver. It’s in Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.
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