When you don't know what to do, where do you turn? To a bottle or a blunt? To some performance-enhancing booster? To despair or distraction? To powerful “friends”? To trendy thought or popular approach? To conventional wisdom? To spiritual compromise, to any religious practice you think might work? Or do you turn to the One who made you and knows you best?

In 2 Kings 16, King Ahaz turned to most of the above except the LORD. He even sacrificed his own son on an altar to bail himself out and tried all kinds of other political and spiritual compromise. And when he used the bronze altar in God's temple strictly to seek personal guidance, he was converting something purely designed for worship of the Lord into something for pursuing his own purposes via pagan practice. These were abominations. God did not bless his reign. It ended nondescript. He died at 36.

Reflect: Athlete, where do you turn for guidance? Toward whom? Toward what? What is your default setting? Is it godly? Are you tempted to trump biblical guidance principles with trendy thought and practice? Are you sacrificing too much or too little to get the answers you really need?

Prayer to consider today: LORD, You are the fountainhead of wisdom and guidance. I seek You above all. Lock me in to this approach. Help me to keep popular thought in its proper place and for my trending to always be running toward You first and foremost. Get the Ahaz out of me.