by Shannon Caughey

What place, if any, does the Bible have in coaching? Some might argue, “The Bible is for the spiritual part of your life. It’s not relevant to coaching.” But if we have put our faith in Christ, we follow him as Lord. Jesus is Lord over not just a “spiritual part” of our life. He’s Lord over all of our life—and Lord over all more broadly! Because he makes himself and his design for us known through his Word, the Bible addresses every dimension of who we are and what we do. This compels us to make God’s Word central to coaching.

For the Bible to actually be central to our coaching, we must respond to it as it directs us. We find these directions throughout Scripture. One especially rich passage is Psalm 119. In this and the next few devotions, we’ll look at parts of Psalm 119, considering how we respond to the Bible and what this means for coaching.

Here’s the first crucial aspect: trust God’s Word. Psalm 119 emphasizes what we repeatedly see in Scripture—that God’s Word is fully true and completely trustworthy. Here’s what the psalmist in Psalm 119 says: “I trust in your word” (v. 42); “all your commands are true” (vv. 86, 151); “The decrees you issue are righteous and altogether trustworthy” (v. 138); “your instruction is true” (v. 142). In his prayer for his disciples in John 17:17, Jesus says to his Father, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

The Bible is fully true. All God speaks through his Word aligns with what is real. There is nothing false or inaccurate in what the Scriptures communicate. Psalm 119 reinforces the trustworthiness of the Bible by pointing to the unchanging nature of God’s Word (v. 89: “Lord, your word is forever; it is firmly fixed in heaven.”), the perfection of God’s Word (v. 96: “I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your command is without limit.”), and the eternal nature of God’s Word—which means it never becomes irrelevant (v. 160: “The entirety of your word is truth, each of your righteous judgments endures forever.”).

All of this points to the fact that the Bible is completely trustworthy. We trust that the Bible tells us what is true about God, us, the world, the future, our deepest need, what the good life is, how to be who we were created to be, and how to live in the way we were created to live. This means we look to and trust the Bible to direct every dimension of coaching. We trust what God’s Word says about the purpose we should pursue as a coach and the character that should define us. We trust what the Bible teaches about how to lead well, the right perspective on winning and losing, how to respond to that overbearing parent or disrespectful opponent, and what constitutes true success.

As a follower of Jesus, you want him to have his rightful place as Lord over your coaching—and this requires God’s Word to be central. Trust the Bible fully. Trust what the Bible teaches when it feels challenging just as much as when it feels encouraging. Like the psalmist, be a coach who says to the Lord, “I trust in your word.”

For reflection: Praise God that his Word is completely true, unchanging, perfect, and eternal. Pray for a deepening trust in his Word as you coach and in all areas of your life.