March Madness
- Dr. Isaac Hayes
- Apr 1
- 4 min read
While March Madness captivates the nation with its basketball chaos, a deeper, more spiritual chaos unfolds in our world, driven by forces of confusion that call us to trust God's sovereignty amidst the uncertainty.
People are losing their minds—at least, that is how I see it. This time of year has been branded “March Madness” because the country is in a frenzy over the competition of 68 basketball teams vying for the national championship in a single-game elimination tournament. Any team can be beaten on any day, driving the fans of the victor and the loser mad.
But this is not the madness I am referring to. While it is true that March Madness is “marked by intense and often chaotic activity,” there is another madness taking place at the same time. President Donald Trump has engaged in a flood-the-zone strategy during his first sixty days in office that is overwhelming our political institutions, our court systems, and the American psyche. His blitzkrieg-like agenda has resulted in intense and chaotic responses. Government employees are experiencing anxiety because they are not sure if they will remain employed, people who rely on government programs are nervous about their programs or services being cut, the stock market is in free fall, radicals are setting Teslas on fire, and America’s allies are unclear if they are now friend or foe. It’s just a firehose of chaos.
Given this uncertainty, we must ask, “Who is behind the chaos?” and “What is the purpose?”
The Conductor of Chaos
President Trump may be the human instrument that is facilitating this frenetic activity, but we would be wise to recognize a more diabolical force behind the actions that are driving many people’s anxiety. Scripture is clear that Satan is “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), which speaks to his influence in our society for driving fear and division. He is the one who seeks to destabilize human flourishing and disrupt our unity for the good of God’s creation. He is the one who, like the religious leaders of Jesus’s day, “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). He is the one who brings sin and shame to every environment he slithers himself into (Genesis 3:1–19).
Just to be clear: I am not saying that President Trump is willfully in cahoots with the devil. What I am saying is that Satan is leveraging his actions to stoke confusion. The purpose of chaos is always confusion. We have seen this story time and again. It was Satan who brought about chaos in our world when he confused Eve about God’s commandment not to eat from the fruit of the forbidden tree (Genesis 3:1–19). It was he who was behind the chaos in Shinar when humanity chose to build up instead of following God’s mandate to build out, causing God to confuse their languages and scatter them abroad. It was Satan who instigated the chaos at Peor when he influenced the false prophet Balaam to confuse the men of Israel, causing the deaths of 24,000 people (Numbers 25:1–9).
Confidence in Confusion
Now that we understand the devil is the puppet master behind the world’s chaos, we must look to Scripture for a biblical response to our current climate. King Solomon provides us with two nuggets of practical wisdom for when we find ourselves in the whirlwind of chaos and confusion: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5–6).
1. Trust God’s Heart. The book of Proverbs offers us the choice between two paths in life: the path of wisdom or the path of folly. The path of wisdom involves learning God’s will and responding accordingly. The path of folly consists of knowing (or not learning) God’s will but failing to respond appropriately.
Solomon instructs us that God’s will is that we trust Him. Trusting God requires “living securely” in “the favor and blessing of Yahweh.” It requires being vulnerable to God because we are confident He is trustworthy—that is, worthy of our trust. We shouldn’t trust our flawed thinking, which has been formed by sin and society, but we can entrust Him with every area of our lives because we know He has our best interest at heart. The good news is that God’s heart guides His hand.
2. Trust God’s Hand. When we speak of God’s hand, we refer to His providence in the life of His people. It is His power and will at work on our behalf. When we put our complete trust in Him—our mind, emotions, and will—it is because we know Him and rely on Him to help us make the right decisions.
Thus, Solomon instructs us to consult God whenever we are faced with choosing between multiple courses of action. Those who follow the path of folly allow their circumstances to dictate their decisions, but those who follow the path of wisdom seek the Lord to show them the route to take, understanding that with His direction also comes His protection.
Trust or Bust
The bracket predictions have been completely busted at the time of this writing. Despite our best efforts to identify who would win each contest, we have been proven wrong and become mad. As with the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, many predictions have been made about the state of our country. We will break if we become obsessed with every “breaking news” story. The good news is that God is sovereign and in absolute control of His creation. He invites us to trust Him and not rely on our human speculation. If we trust Him, we will be glad, but if we trust in ourselves, we will be mad.
Dr. Isaac Hayes is an Assistant Pastor at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, Illinois, and author of Men After God’s Heart: 10 Principles of Brotherly Love. He also has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Follow Dr. Hayes on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube at @RevIsaacHayes.
Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003).
Willem VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 644.
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