What do I do?

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8(NIVUK)

When I was teaching in South Africa I also coached the u/14C rugby team. We didn’t play a lot of games as there weren’t a lot of schools with that many u/14 rugby players, but we organised midweek games as often as we could.
 
On one such an occasion we played against a school nearby, but one of our players pulled out last-minute. There was a big athletic boy in one of my classes who had never played rugby before, but was eager to fill in for the absent player. We sorted out his rugby kit and put him out of the way on the wing.
 
It was a pretty close game. At one stage the opposition had an attacking scrum on our 5-yard line. I was standing behind the deadball line behind my players. All of a sudden I see this boy run from his wing, behind the scrum, right in front of me. When he saw me he skidded to a stop, looked at me with great distress in his eyes and asked in a panicky voice “What do I do!? What do I do!?”
 
I think as Christians we might feel like that at times. There’s a lot of people within the wider church arguing about a lot of different things. There are wars happening with people on both sides believing they’re justified to wage war. There are so many problems and often too many solutions, so we might feel like running around crying out “What do I do!? What do I do!?”
 
I find that when my heart starts racing and my mind goes into a spin about what I need to do next, reading Micah 6:8 is helpful more often than not. It beautifully boils down what I need to do and puts it in words even I can understand - Act justly (do the right thing), love mercy (forgive and accept forgiveness), and walk humbly with my God (get to know Jesus and follow his example).
 
When we become overwhelmed with the enormity of the world and its problems, it is always helpful to turn to God again and remember who he is.
 
In a moment of great uncertainty and feeling like he would let me and the team down, the young player came to me for answers. I was able to tell him where to go and what to do, and he did it. But only because he trusted that I would know what he should do, and because he was fully dependent on my knowledge, not his own.
 
May we recognise our own shortcomings, and when we are overwhelmed, may we do the right thing, forgive easily, and turn to Jesus every chance we get.
 
A prayer - Lord Jesus, thank you that we can come to you whenever and for whatever reason. Help me to do the right thing even when it is hard, to bravely forgive those who need forgiveness, and walk with you every day of my life. Amen.
 
Photo by Andrea Joshua Sibabalo Qoqonga on Unsplash