The Master Mind

The time passed slowly, and so to distract my patient from her symptoms, one morning we played Mastermind. Playing the pattern-finding game always reminds me of when I played it with my sister in my grandparents’ home. I can still almost feel the rough avocado green carpet under my elbows as we propped ourselves up on the living room floor, the adult conversation swirling above us. It is a special memory and I love that my daughter is old enough to play with me now, and to play well!

There is only one way to win Mastermind and that is to observe the patterns, make educated guesses and not make any assumptions. Early wrong assumptions are game-changers. This is true in a simple board game, and even more true in life.

In some circumstances it might feel like we are alone in the world. Poverty, abandonment, illness, stress and trauma have all led some people to make a false assumption. When faced with a cold and lonely world they’ve assumed that this is all there is in life—and we are alone to fight the battle. Despondency can do that to a person. But, it doesn’t have to.

The Psalms penned by King David are among my favorite chapters in Scripture because David was an open book. In the Psalms we read both his despondency and his praise. There is no better place to see this than in Psalm 22—often called the Psalm of the Cross. Psalm 22 tells the story of the man David and his personal experience, and it also foretells the experience of Messiah. In this Psalm of the Cross, no sin is confessed and no bitterness recorded, which parallels the life of Christ in the face of suffering.

The Psalm begins:

“'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?" - Psalm 22:1

Words echoed years later on a cross by One who knew no sin. (see Mark 15:34)

The first twenty-one verses follow David through his despair. Well, the first twenty and a half verses, to be exact, because in the middle of verse twenty-one David abruptly switches from despondency to praise.

“Save Me from the lion's mouth, And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me.” - Psalm 22:21

After pouring out the pain of his experience in deeply impassioned language like verse fourteen, “My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me”, David abruptly switches his lament to praise.

"My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him." - Psalm 22:25

How is David able to passionately voice his despair and then turn to praise? Because his assumption from the beginning was correct—he believed that God was with Him through each and every moment. That was the game-changer. It is why he could write, “You have answered Me.” Did you notice the upper-case ‘M’ in this New King James Version? This prophecies Messiah, and Jesus made the same assumption on the cross. He knew his Father was with Him and would answer.

I don’t know what is on your heart as you read this, but I know from personal experience that there is plenty in life every day to rattle us. Sometimes it is the big stuff like the loss of employment or the loss of a dear one. Or maybe the challenge is a sick child with no family nearby for support—no adult conversations swirling over a fevered head to provide comfort. Challenges—even despondency—are part of our human experience. If we keep our eyes on the pattern of His work in our life and always, always, assume that He is with us, that is the game-changer. The One who is the Master will see us through.