So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:19, NIV)
Golfers have a fascination with squirrels.
For one, they make the Rules of Golf. They are an “outside agency,” of the type that can seize your ball right before your eyes and move it from nice to nasty. Thankfully, the Rules make provision for this and allow you to return the ball to its original position.
But if you’ve hung around golf and golfers long enough, you’ve also heard the happy expression a hundredfold: “Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.” And happy is an accurate assessment of the term’s application, because it is always delivered with a sheepish grin by a player who has just gotten lucky beyond all reason.
That’s why we cannot say unequivocally that a lack of confidence dooms a player. Sometimes a putting golfer stands over the ball with no idea of the line and little assurance of his stroke, yet the ball finds it way into the cup all the same.
Oh, that the same were true for those who do not believe in God!
Now understand: the sovereignty of the Lord is exceedingly unpredictable. There are those who walk a moral line much of their lives, so close (it seems) to a life in Christ. Yet Christ is not their Savior, for they never call on him in repentance and belief, and they die apart from him. Meanwhile, there are others whose lives demonstrate every awful sin—those who curse the name of God at each left-hand turn. And yet in a moment they are captured by the Spirit of God and held fast unto life-changing belief. They never turn aside again, giving Christ their full surrender. For this reason, we cannot assess the life of a man or a woman as they are living it on earth and make any final predictions about where they will turn before their death.
But God tells us through the writer of Hebrews that when that death comes, the line is quickly drawn. Those who have believed enter the rest of the Lord; those who have not find themselves still separated from him.
The context of this passage at the end of Hebrews 3 begins by examining those Hebrew men and women who did not enter the Promised Land of Israel because of their unbelief. But the context turns in verse 18, where the writer asked, “And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?” (that last word being alternately translated disbelieved, which is supported in verse 19, as well as in the opening verse of chapter 4).
Where we stand at the end of our lives matters. There will be no blind squirrels finding the acorn of heaven. Now is the time for us to see! Now is the time for us to pray and to preach sight for all who are blind to the salvation of God.
—
Jeff Hopper
August 29, 2012
Copyright 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.