Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / September 23, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: Good morning, everybody. It is Wednesday, September 23rd. I'm your host, Greg Miller, and this is the latest episode of Beliefs, Ballots, and Bulldogs. Well, dog fans, we ⁓ we learned something Saturday. It's ⁓ apparently Gunner Stockton is a running back now. ⁓ Georgia went to Arkansas and promptly won 45 to 7. It wasn't really that close. Pretty comfortable afternoon. ⁓ but our boy Gunner ran the football seven times for 97 yards. 97 yards. He had a 62-yard run on one play. Meanwhile, the entire Arkansas football team rushed for 17 yards. Gunner outrushed the entire Arkansas Razorbacks by 80 yards. That's just flat disrespectful. At some point, you almost want Kirby to walk over across the field and apologize. Hey, look, coach, I'm sorry, we didn't realize our quarterback was gonna outrush your entire football program. But here's the thing about Gunner, what I'm really starting to enjoy about him, this guy's a problem. And look, slow down, I'm not calling anyone Mar Jackson. He's not. I'm just saying that there's now an element. To this offense, the defenses have to account for on every single snap. If the play breaks down, Gunner can flat and go. And the thing I like about it is he's not the shifty dude. Dude runs like he's a linebacker. He doesn't pull the little graceful quarterback slide. There's no let me protect myself and live to play another down. No, I mean Gunner takes off, and somewhere Kirby's just screaming at him, slide, slide, slide, Gunner, get down for the love of God. And then boom, Gunner just lowers his shoulder into a safe. And picks up the first down. It's fun to watch. And half of our coaching staff just is aging every time he takes off runs. But obviously, we don't want to get Gunnar hurt. But this is a weapon we need to use. Got Oklahoma coming to town on Saturday, and ⁓ I prefer that Gunner remains structurally intact at the beginning and the end of this game. But there is something about having a quarterback who's willing to do that. It changes the offense. Now on third and six, you you've got to defend the running back, you've got to defend the receivers, you've got to lock down the tight ends. And then you've got this crazy guy back there who might just tuck it and run through your linebacker and pick up a first down. It's fun to watch, I can't lie. And maybe that's the question that I'd like to throw out there for dog fans today. Moving forward this year, how much do you want to see Georgia using Gunner's legs? Because obviously there's a trade-off, it makes the offense a lot more dangerous. But every time he he takes on a 240-pound SEC linebacker, we all tend to clench up a little bit. We're not sure what the backup situation is. So where are you? Do we turn him loose? Or do we say, hey Gunner, buddy, be be smart, man. Slide. Protect yourself. We need you. Oklahoma's coming to town, Tuscaloosa trip right around the road, and then we gotta go to Oxford. So we need Gunner to keep all of his ⁓ original body parts intact. The ⁓ the spiritual message for today is ⁓ you don't need the whole map. ⁓ you weren't meant to understand everything God does. You're meant to just trust Him. And this is something that I've been thinking about a lot, and really it began my spiritual journey and my relationship with God. We all want explanations. We we want to understand. We want God to show us everything He's doing, why He's doing it, where He's taking us, how this thing we're going through fits into the bigger picture. And preferably, we'd love to know. Hey, how's this all gonna work out? We pray, God, what are you doing in my life? God, why did you allow this? God, where are you taking me? Why hasn't this prayer been answered? Why did this door close? Why did that relationship have to end? Why am I still waiting on this? Why this? Why that? And look, those aren't necessarily bad questions. And certainly God isn't frightened by our questions. Scripture is full of people who asked him questions. But I wonder if somewhere along the way we've started believing something that God never promised us, that we're somehow supposed to understand him. We're not, we're just not. In fact, we can't. We can't comprehend him. And maybe that's the first thing we need to work on and get straight today. You are not ever going to figure God out. Isaiah 55, chapters 8 and verses 8 and 9: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. For the heavens are high. Higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. We quote that verse, but do we believe it? Because if God's thoughts are infinitely higher than mine, then there are going to be moments where what he's doing doesn't make sense to me. There has to be. Otherwise, we're operating on the same level as God. And we're not, I promise you. Romans chapter 11, verse 33 tells us, ⁓ the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable are his ways. unsearchable. There are things about God you are not ever going to figure out. And I actually find that comforting. Because think about the alternative. If Greg Miller could completely understand God, we'd have a pretty small God. If his entire plan could fit inside my brain, if his reasoning always made sense to me, if I could predict everything he was going to do, and then I'm not sure we're talking about an almighty God anymore. We're talking about a slightly smarter version of me. And nobody needs that. We all want the map. Go back to Genesis chapter twelve. God speaks directly to Abram and he says to him, He says, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I mean imagine that conversation. Where am I going? I'll show you. Okay? How far? I'll show you. Okay. Well what's waiting there for me? Guess what the answer is? I'll show you. I mean, can I at least get an address? Nope. So this is this is just like it this is how God calls us. He's just telling you to go. And then in Genesis chapter 12, verse 4, he says something incredibly simple. So Abram went as the Lord had told him. Now that's faith. God didn't hand Abram the entire map. He gave him the next instruction, and Abram went. Hebrews 11 comes back to thousands of years later, comes back to that. In chapter or in verse 8 of chapter 11, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as his inheritance. And then comes this little phrase: And he went out, not knowing where he was going. Read that again. Not knowing where he was going. It's right there in the Bible. We tend to think that faith means being absolutely certain about what God is going to do. Sometimes faith is saying, I have no idea where this is going, but I know who told me to walk. And that's a completely different approach. We want God to explain Himself. And I think this is where we all struggle. We don't just want direction from God. We want justification. We want him to explain why. Tell me why this happened. Tell me why you didn't stop this from happening. Tell me why you haven't fixed this thing I've prayed. About. Tell me why somebody else got that thing that I've been praying for. Tell me why this person I love got sick. Tell me why I lost that job. Tell me why my marriage fell apart. Tell me why my child has wandered from me. Tell me why prayers seem to go unanswered. And sometimes we're never gonna get an answer. And that's hard. It's hard for all of us. But scripture never promises an explanation for everything that happens, it promises something better, it promises God Himself. Look at Jesus. Job, one of my favorite characters in all of the Bible. If anybody had a right to ask why, it was certainly Job. He loses his children, he loses his wealth, he loses his own physical health, his life entirely collapses. And for chapter after chapter, Job wants answers, as we all would. All of his friends certainly have answers. They've got explanations for everything that happened, and every one of them's wrong. And finally, finally, God speaks directly to Job. And that's what fascinates God never really gives Job the explanation that we were expecting. God doesn't sit down, Job, and say, okay, look, here's what happened behind the scenes, here's what was going on. Instead, God starts asking himself some questions of Job. In chapter 38, he goes, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? And then God just keeps going from there. Who shut in the sea? Who commands the morning? Do you know where light lives? Can you control the stars? Can you provide for the animals? Question after question after question. God questions us, we question him. And eventually you realize what God is showing Job. He's showing Job that we don't understand enough to understand everything that he's doing. And it sounds harsh until you realize what it really comes with, but I clearly do. That's the comfort, is we don't have to understand. The comfort isn't that eventually you'll understand everything. The comfort is that God already understands it all. I think maybe we've got faith backwards. I think we tend to approach God like this. God, explain your plan to me, and then I'll decide whether I trust it. Even say those words out. Wow, think about that. We want God to submit his plan for our approval. Hey God, give me the details. Let me examine the risk. Show me what the expected outcome is and explain the timeline to me. And then if everything checks out, all right, cool. I'll trust you. Well, that's not trust at all. It's not even close. That is that is your own personal evaluation. That is There's nothing wrong with evaluating human plans. You absolutely should. We're all flawed. But God isn't asking us to sit on his board of directors. He's God. We're not. Like Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5 is my favorite verse of all time. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. We've heard that verse so many times that it's easy to forget how radical it actually is. Do not lean on your own understanding. Not don't think. don't ask questions. It's it's not even you know to to ignore wisdom. It's simply saying do not lean on your own understanding. What that means is to don't make your ability to understand the foundation of your trust. Because your understanding clearly has limits. God has none. Even Peter, the rock, had moments like this. Luke in chapter 5 were told Peter had been out fishing all night. Peter's a fisherman. He knows what he's doing. He knows the water. He knows the equipment. This this guy does this for a living. He knows how to get fish in the net. All night long. It's caught nothing. Jesus shows up and tells him, Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And look, Peter's basically his response is like any of us. Jesus, we've already done this. We've been out here all night. He says, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing. And then Peter says something that I absolutely love. But at your word, I will let down the nets. But at your word, that should be the whole message today. I don't understand, I don't get it, but at your word. I've already tried, but at your word. I'm just tired, but at your word. This doesn't make sense to me, Lord. But at your word. And then they let down the nets. And guess what happened? They caught so many fish that the nets began breaking. Peter's understanding said, there's no way this is gonna work. I've been trying all night. But Peter's trust said, Jesus said, do it, so I'm gonna do it. And this is where it gets real for us. It's okay to talk about Abraham, and it's okay to talk about Peter. They're all in the Bible, they're there for us. But what about us? God says forgive, and too often we like to say, Yeah, but You don't understand what they did to me. He does. Trust me. If he tells you to forgive, forgive. Just do it because he says to. God says, tell the truth. Yeah, but if I tell the truth, this could cost me. Tell the truth anyway. God says, love your enemy. Yeah, but they don't deserve my love. We don't deserve his. Love them anyway. It's it's simple, guys. God says be faithful to your spouse. Yeah, but my spouse isn't making me happy right now. Doesn't matter. faithful. Faithful. God says, be generous. Yeah, but I'm worried that I might not have enough. Trust me. God says, wait. Yeah, but somebody else is gonna get ahead of me if I wait. Doesn't matter. Wait anyway. God says walk away from that temptation. That was tough because I really want it. Trust him, walk away. Sometimes isn't the problem that we don't know what God wants. We know. Sometimes we just don't like his answers. And then we keep asking God for For more clarity or different answers. And what we're really asking for is permission to do something different. That's uncomfortable when you say it like that, but but we've all done it. I've done it, you've done it, most all of us have. Obedience doesn't require understanding. Joshua chapter 6 is another incredible example. The nation of Israel comes to Jericho, ⁓ a massively fortified city, and God's battle plan is walk around it. Imagine being Joshua and explaining. The military commands. Alright, fellas, here's the strategy. We're gonna walk around the city. Alright, and then what are we gonna do? We're going home. Okay, we're attacking after we walk around. Nope. Not the plan. Tomorrow we're gonna come back and we're gonna walk around it again. Military commanders don't like these answers, and this goes on for days. Then on the seventh day, they march around the village seven times. Priests blow the trumpets, the people shout, and the walls fall. Now, I'm pretty confident that if Joshua had submitted that strategy to a modern military consultant, there would have been some questions. There were probably questions back then. But Joshua's responsibility wasn't to invent the outcome. His responsibility was obedience. God handled the walls. That's important for all of us. Sometimes we're trying to do God's part. We're trying to figure it all out. How's this gonna work? How will God fix this? How will he provide? Those are natural questions. How will he restore this for me? How will he open these doors? How will he change that person? How will he change me? These are all questions. And look, maybe God has not assigned to you the how. Maybe he's just assigned to you the obedience. You don't need the whole map. Some of us are stuck because we're waiting on steps two through ten, and God's already given you step one. We're saying to God, Hey God, show me where this goes. And maybe He's saying right back to you, take the step I've already shown you. You don't need the whole map. You need enough light for just the next step. Psalms 119, verse 105. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Think about a lamp. A lamp doesn't illuminate 10 miles down the road. You just enough light to see where you're stepping next, and then you take that next step, and then there's a little bit more light for the following step, and then you take it, and then there's another. And maybe that's what God, like walking with God, actually looks like. It's not, hey, here's my complete 10-year plan from God. We're rarely gonna get that. Maybe it's just a here's where He's leading me today. So today I'll walk where He's leading me. And sometimes God doesn't tell you to walk, sometimes He tells you to wait, and that matters to Because taking the next step doesn't always mean something dramatic. Sometimes the next step is to sit still and wait. Psalms 27:14. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Waiting to us feels like nothing's happening, but biblically, waiting can be the greatest sense of obedience. Abraham waited, Joseph waited, David waited, Israel waited. The disciples waited. Sometimes Our wonderful God is doing something while you're doing nothing but trusting him. And that can be harder than action to sit still and let him do his thing. Actions make us feel in control. Waiting reminds us that we're not. But we're not God. And maybe that's the part of this we really don't like. We all like control. I do. My wife certainly does. I want to know things. I want the plan. I want to understand. I want to know what the backup plan is, and preferably when it all. Possible, I'd like the backup plan for the backup plan. But Christianity requires me to regularly confront one very important truth. I am not God. And I thank God for that. I don't know what tomorrow holds. None of us do. But He does. I don't know what doors need to close. He does. I don't know which disappointment is protecting me from something worse today. He does. And I don't know which struggle is developing something inside of me that I'll probably need down the road. He knows. I don't know how all of these pieces fit together. None of us know. He knows. Romans chapter 8, verse 28 tells us. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, and for those who are called according to his purpose. Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say all things are good. They're not, never will be. Some things are just flat horrible. Some things hurt. Some things make absolutely no sense to us in this world. The promise is that God is capable of working through all of that. Even the pieces we don't understand, trust, love, obey. Maybe we may. Christianity more complicated than it needs to be sometimes. We want to understand everything about God, but we can't. We want answers to every theological question. We'll never get them all. We want to understand every season. We want it's not gonna happen. We want God to explain every decision. He never promised to. So what do we do? Guess what we do? We trust Him, love Him, obey Him. Trust, love, obey. Jesus tells us in John 14, 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. That's it. That's the connection. Love of Jesus produces obedience. Trust allows obedience when the understanding doesn't make sense. That's what faith is. It's not blind faith. Christian faith is grounded in who God has revealed Himself to be: faithful, holy, good, loving. Just, merciful, awesome, sovereign, mighty. These are all words that describe God, and they don't describe us. So when I don't understand what God is doing. Kind of have to fall back on who God is. And that's always gonna be the anchor. So maybe that's where you are today. Maybe there's something happening in your life that you just don't understand. Well, it's okay. Maybe you've prayed about it, maybe you've thought incessantly about it, maybe you've tried to wrap your mind around it and make sense of it, and you still just don't know. Well, maybe you don't need another explanation. Maybe you just need permission to say, you know what? God, I don't understand this. But I I trust you. It's powerful. Those statements can can absolutely exist together. I don't understand, but I trust you. I don't like this, but I trust you. I wouldn't have chosen this, Lord, but I trust you. I can't see where this is going, but I trust you. I just don't know what's gonna happen next, but I trust you. That's not weakness, guys. That's faith. So what's the next step? Maybe that's the question. What is the next step for today? It's not gonna be, God, show me everything. Maybe. The question should be, God, what have you already shown me that I haven't acted on? Is there something out there that you already know you need to do? Somebody you know you need to forgive, something you know you need to confess, a conversation you need to have, a habit you need to stop? Is there a commitment or a promise that you need to keep? Is there somebody you just need to love actively? Is there something that you need to be patient and wait for? Is there a step you need to take? Maybe stop asking for the whole map and obey the direct and obey the direction you already have. Because God's not going to show you step five until you Taken step one. So here's what I've learned over the years, and what I'm still learning. I don't need to understand God completely. I can't. Not possible. I don't need to understand everything He's doing. I won't and I never will. I don't need to know exactly where He's taking me. Abraham didn't. I don't need to understand how the obedience is going to work out. Peter didn't know. I don't need to understand how the walls are going to fall. Joshua had no. Idea. He just obeyed. And I don't need an explanation for every painful thing before I can believe God is still God. Job never got an explanation. What I need, what we all need, is to know the one who we're following. Trust him, love him, and obey him. And then When your own limited understanding runs out, let trust keep walking for you. So if you're standing somewhere today and you're asking yourself, you know, God, where does this road go? Well, maybe you don't need that answer yet. Just look down. What's the next step? Can you see it? Great. Take it. And then you know what you get to do? Take another one. And another. Keep taking that step that's just in front of you. You don't need the whole map. You just need to know who you're following. Get in your Bible, say your prayers. Trust God even when you don't understand Him. Trust Him even when you do. Love Him, obey Him, and just keep walking. Because faith isn't and never will be knowing exactly where the road leads. Faith is knowing who you're willing to follow down that very road. God bless.