I lie down and sleep; I wake again because the LORD sustains me. (Psalm 3:5, NIV)
If there is but one thing we golfers should be quick to admit, it’s that we have no idea what is coming. A round can be rolling smoothly along, our swing comfortable and productive, the chips stopping close and the putts finding home. Then a funny bounce here or a lazy motion there and we’re writing down numbers we thought all belonged to another day.
Golf pleases us, frustrates us, relaxes us, disappoints us, rewards us, ensnares us. Golf makes us giddy and proud in one moment, humble and fatalistic the next. Golf cannot be counted upon.
The Lord can quiet the fears of the hunted and combat the forces that would rob us of our lives.Hopefully, I have learned this lesson by now. But if I look at the way I live the rest of my life, I wonder. I fill up my calendar or my to-do list and begin walking through the appointments and checking off the boxes.
Jeff in control, Jeff coming through again.
And then Jeff is thwarted.
Yes, yes, go ahead and replace my name with yours. You’ve been there, sure that all is coming off without the proverbial hitch. Then your battery dies. Or your kindergartner lies sick in the nurse’s office and needs to go home. Or the service desk has never heard of your problem in all the history of technology. I won’t repeat the litany, but life too can zigzag us through the hours of our day like a bicycle courier in Manhattan—with one big twist in the narrative: we slam into the garbage can and send all our brilliant organization and congenial dignity sprawling across the sidewalk.
By now we should be convinced that we’ve got nothing figured out. In most every matter of life, we should be less and less certain. Which is even more unnerving for those of us in the second half of life. Shouldn’t we be older and wiser and more sure of what’s in front of us?
In writing the third psalm, King David was responding to the uncertainty of his days. His rebellious son, bent on David’s demise, had every design to steal the throne. He’d driven David from Jerusalem. There were no certainties anymore. David was not only uncertain of the events of tomorrow; he was uncertain of tomorrow.
But David reminded himself—and now us—of the one assurance that mattered. David was certain of God. Here, firm and strong, was his shield, the protector who answered the cries of the king. David had no control of his today, his tonight, his tomorrow. But the Lord did. And the Lord can quiet the fears of the hunted and combat the forces that would rob us of our lives. In him, we can be more and more certain, from this day to our last.
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Jeff Hopper
March 26, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.