What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:14, NIV)
Here we go again. A new number one player in the world. Well, not exactly new. Rory McIlroy has been here before, and he may well stay for a while now. But he is the third numero uno in the men’s game this season, while the women’s side had a change at the top in early June.
It’s not easy up there. David Duval ascended to the highest of heights in 1999, but injuries, adjustments, and age have kept him from winning since his Open Championship in 2001. He says this will be his last season.
Links Player Jiyai Shin climbed to the pinnacle in 2010; she now limits herself, apart from the majors, to playing in Korea, where she is close to home and the support that proximity provides.
No matter how successful we become in life, no matter how celebrated for our accomplishments, our time is limited. We may be remembered by those who knew us well, even eliciting sentimental reflections, like “Grandpa is looking down on us right now and smiling,” or “Aunt Jane is turning over in her grave.” But another generation down the line, those memories are forgotten.
This reality may strike us in two ways.
We might consider it sad and fall to moping. “What is it all for, then?” we lament, and we lose our drive to excel.
Or we might recognize that there is one who stands above all, fixed in eternity, ever ready to listen to the cries of those who call on his name, ever certain to forgive the contrite heart, ever prepared to give us a place in his kingdom. When we see the inconstancies of life against the constancy of God in heaven, we are driven to exalt him for his permanence. In it, we have hope for all eternity.
Job, whose earthly life was reduced to poverty and pain, avowed, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth” (Job 19:14). David, whose kingdom was delivered and maintained in fits and spurts that ever humbled this man of great earthly power, coupled two titles to express God’s sure place: “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).
When the vacillations of life discourage you, it is not time to take stock of your success or your failure; it is time to draw strength from the eminence of God. He is there, above all, distant in position but near in relationship. Trust in him, for he can be trusted in all things. Call on him, for he will hear. Live in him, knowing that the life he forges for you far surpasses any life you can forge for yourself.
—
Jeff Hopper
August 5, 2014
Copyright 2014 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.