by Shannon Caughey

Coaching is hard. As a coach, you know the pain and discouragement of experiences like being unfairly criticized or having a player make destructive choices despite your best efforts to help them. Coaches themselves also make mistakes and poor choices at times. For example, perhaps you’ve said or done something out of anger that you later regret because of how hurtful it was to a player or fellow coach. Or maybe you’ve made a coaching decision that you know was ethically questionable.

In situations such as these, your athletic director or supervisor’s response makes a difference in how well you trust them moving forward. If they seem distant and uncaring when you’re struggling, it undermines trust. If they’re only willing to come down hard on you for what you did wrong, it creates distance rather than confidence in the relationship. On the other hand, if they walk with you and support you during hard times—and if they stick with you and help you learn when you’ve failed—your trust in them deepens.

We can apply this to the more significant context of our relationship with the Lord. In this series of devotions, we’re considering why we can trust God as we go about coaching and life. We’ve seen that God is trustworthy because of his love, power, sovereignty, holiness, goodness, and justice. We can also trust God because he is merciful and gracious. While these two character qualities overlap in some ways, let’s think about what distinguishes how they are used in the Bible and why lead to a deepening trust in the Lord.

In 2 Corinthians 1:3, Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.” God’s mercy is his goodness toward those who are suffering and in distress. It’s his willingness to take action to relieve our pain and misery. Because this is true of God, David is motivated to cry out to him, “Lord, hear my prayer; listen to my cries for mercy. I call on you in the day of my distress, for you will answer me” (Psalm 86:6-7). We trust God because we know that in our struggles—whether it’s coaching discouragement or pain in another area—he is merciful toward us.

The Lord is also gracious. In 1 Peter 5:10, Peter refers to him as “the God of all grace.” When he manifested his presence to Moses in a cloud, God proclaimed of himself, “The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). God’s grace is his goodness toward undeserving people—people who in reality deserve to receive God’s wrath for our sin. Instead, our gracious God shows his favor toward us and pours out his blessing upon us.

The ultimate demonstration of God’s mercy and grace is in what Christ has done to save us from our sin and reconcile us to himself. In Ephesians 2, Paul emphasizes this: “You are saved by grace!” (v. 5); “…so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (v. 7). Paul then reiterates that we in no way deserve this, nor could we ever repay the Lord for what he’s done for us (vv. 8-9): “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.” All we can do is receive God’s merciful, gracious gift of salvation by faith and with humble gratitude.

Rather than being distant and uncaring when we’re struggling, God is merciful toward us. While we deserve to have God come down hard on us for our sinful choices and actions, God instead is full of grace when we turn to Christ in faith. Because this is who he is, we can trust the Lord in every coaching and life situation.

Why trust God? Because he is loving, he is all-powerful, he is sovereign, he is holy, he is good, he is just, and he is merciful and gracious. Put your confidence in him because he is the Father of mercies and the compassionate and gracious God.

For reflection: Take some time to praise God for his mercy and grace. Renew your trust in him because of his goodness toward you in your struggles and his favor toward you though you in no way deserve it.