Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:7)
Bobby Jones famously said, “Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course—the distance between your ears.” This speaks to the importance of the mental aspect of the game, and it is Dr. Bob Rotella’s area of expertise.
Rotella was in the news recently as Rory McIlroy had his breakthrough win at the 2025 Masters. Rotella had been working with Rory on his mental approach to the game, providing guidance on how to stay focused and positive.
McIlroy needed that advice as he endured a roller coaster final round, but in the end, he finally captured the green jacket and became only the sixth person to claim golf’s Grand Slam.
Rotella has been helping golfers with sports psychology for the past several decades. He has also authored a dozen books, including his 1995 classic, “Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect.”
In that book, Rotella discusses having a mindset covering all aspects of golf, from mental preparation to competing. One of his key points is the importance of trusting your swing.
For example: “No golfer gets through 18 holes without a few bad swings. Accept that and trust your swing.” And: “A golfer must train his swing and then trust it. 60% of practice should be trusting mentality vs training mentality.” The takeaway: You always need to trust your swing.
There’s another book where trust is an important theme – the Bible. God’s Word is full of guidance about the need to put our trust in Him. Let’s focus specifically on two verses. Psalm 62:8 declares, “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” And Proverbs 3:5-6 shares the following wisdom: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Three phrases jump out from those verses: our trust in God needs to be “at all times,” “with all your heart,” and “in all your ways.” Partial trust just won’t cut it. Pastor Tim Keller believed that we trust God too little because we trust our wisdom too much; we do everything we can to get out from under his hand.
Keller called this “the most fundamental temptation and the original sin.” If our trust in God is to be true, it must be complete. We need to be “all in.”
There may be times when we wonder if we can truly trust God. It might be when facing an unexpected crisis, or perhaps when our prayers have not been answered.
But always remember that God knows what he is doing, even when we don’t. One pastor summed it up nicely: “God doesn’t require that we see and understand the plans He has for our lives. He only requests that we trust Him as he works in us.”
Always trust the Lord – all the time, with all your heart, in all your ways.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to put our complete trust in you. Our understanding can wait, but our trust needs to be immediate, committed, and “all in.” Amen.