Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. (Psalm 46:2, NIV)
You know the reason so many golf fans still love John Daly? In all his failings, he gives us permission to fail, too.
Oh, there is a limit as to how far we should forgive ourselves without commitment to new mindsets and new habits. But many times, maybe we should simply say with a chuckle, “Wow, I sure hope that never happens again.”
And here, admittedly, I am thinking specifically of the kinds of golf holes that absolutely get away from us. John Daly is the master of these. At the 1998 Bay Hill Invitational, Daly recorded an 18 at the par-5 sixth. Technically, Paul Goydos, who was keeping Daly’s score that day, recorded the 18. But he needed help. “After the fifth or sixth time [he hit it in the water], I just lost track,” Goydos told reporters that day. “It wasn’t as if he wasn’t trying.”
When it comes to golf, an 18 on a single hole is about as bad as we can imagine. Records show, though, that two different golfers—men you’ve never heard of, who are surely glad for that—have recorded 19s on holes in PGA Tour history. One of these, a club pro named Hans Merrell, put up that ignominious number on the sixteenth at Cypress Point during the 1959 Bing Crosby Pro-Am. The sixteenth is famous for its required carry over an ocean expanse, yet Merrell managed that 19 without ever putting a ball in the water!
One thing we can say about holes like these is that, ever after, when Daly or Merrell were staring triple bogey in the face, they could say, “Ah, this is nothing. I’ve suffered through far worse.”
Maybe it’s natural when life comes at us with its inevitable meannesses to start thinking all the way across the span of misery to the very worst outcome. It isn’t easy in such hours to brush off the anxiety and casually ask, “Ah, how bad can it be?” It isn’t easy because our runaway minds are busy telling us just exactly how bad it can be.
Those who have cheated death by way of narrow escape or long outliving a grave prognosis may have no fear when bad news or no-win situations come their way. For the rest of us, fear is a sudden, then dogged companion.
And this may be exactly why God has given us the psalms. To read that we can live without fear even though the “earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,” is to recognize that, well, yes, matters could be much worse. But more than this it is to recognize that our fears are relieved when instead we trust in the God of Psalm 46:1, he who is “our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” He is the one who says in verse 10, “Be still and know who I am.”
Yes, know the I AM, the great King exalted among the nations. Know him and fear not. Know him and live.
—
Jeff Hopper
January 17, 2018
Copyright 2018 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.