Pictured: Yellowfin tuna from this fishing guide’s website: https://alphonsefishingco.com/fly-fishing/species/yellowfin-tuna/
Once, after a day of deep-sea fishing, I joined my friend Doug at a stainless steel cleaning table. Ours was one of four tables, each surrounded by men cleaning fish and swapping stories. It was amazing to see the huge redfish and yellow-fin tuna and amberjack and black drum. As the sunburned men worked through dozens of huge fish, slicing and gutting, snapping bones and hosing away the scales, the waste parts quickly washed from the stainless tabletops directly into the waters of the rocky shore below. Seagulls grabbed everything that landed on the rocks and an endless stream of crabs fought for everything that slipped below the surface.
But it was the conversations that stayed with me. For over an hour I soaked up the most incredible fish tales I had ever heard. And it was not just fishing. The men talked about hunting trips, told stories of injuries they had suffered, football teams they played for, military exploits, and like all good storytellers, they sprinkled in stories borrowed from friends: “’Yeah, buddy a’ mine was down on Matagorda Bay last summer, got into a nest of jellyfish and had to be choppered outta’ there.”
Of all the things I enjoyed about deep-sea fishing, I may have enjoyed story time at the cleaning tables most of all. I do love a great story.
What man doesn’t love a great story?
Men are motivated to fight for glory—on the battlefield, on the sports field, or anywhere a man can find it. There is one kind of glory in dropping an enemy, another kind of glory in dropping a moose, and perhaps a third type of glory in academic achievements and artistic accomplishments. There is even glory in telling a great story.
But life is like a card game: a man must play the hand he is dealt, whether God made him a baller or a baker, a pugilist or a percussionist.
Play the hand you’re dealt; work hard and you’ll find your glory.
But there is a secret to glory in the Christian life: If you want to achieve glory, you must be prepared to give God the glory.
The book of Second Samuel records stories of David’s mighty men, men like “Adino the Eznite: he lifted up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time” 2 Samuel 23:8.
And Abishai fought 300 men single-handedly, 2 Samuel 23:18.
Benaiah went into a pit during a snowstorm and killed a lion, then defeated a seven-foot Egyptian by stabbing him with his own spear, 2 Samuel 23:20-21 and 1 Chronicles 11:23.
These stories go on and on. While still a fugitive, David drew to himself the most extraordinary men, fighters for the ages, and David’s leadership inspired them to achieve the impossible. Yet the commander of these mighty men dedicated to God both their achievements and his own:
“With God’s help I can advance against a troop, with my God I can scale a wall … It is God who arms me with strength … He makes me sure-footed like the deer … He trains my hands for battle, my arms can bend a bow of bronze … You armed me with strength for battle … The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me … who saves me from my enemies … He gives his king great victories” Psalm 18:29-50.
Men love glorious achievements. The life of David indicates one key to great achievements is a grateful heart that never takes credit but gives God the glory in all things.
Talk to God about your dreams and ask him to give you a heart like David’s. Pray the words of Psalm 115:1– “Not to us, oh Lord, not to us, but to thy name give glory, because of thy loving kindness and because of thy truth.” That is the Godly path to glory. See also the words of John the Baptist in John 3:30.
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