Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6, NASB, emphasis added)
For a long time, amateur golfers have had no need to find a sprinkler head or the 200-, 150-, or 100- yard marker to step off yardage. Who would have ever thought that when the US Department of Defense invented the Global Positioning System or the direct-detection laser, it would be something we would use in golf? Today, we are fortunate to have lots of high tech equipment available to us. I have a “golf watch” that gives me yardages to the front, middle, and back of greens on more than 40,000 courses. Most now play with a rangefinder, too, and after learning how to use that little slope switch, I’ve found it really comes in handy on an unfamiliar course.
I played golf not long ago with my son on a high-end public course. It was all very nice, but one of the things I really enjoyed was the GPS screen in the cart. That screen had all kinds of good information. You could see the distances to the hazards, the shape of the greens, and the exact distance to the pins. Wow, all of it was right there in front of us on that little screen. And, you could trust what it said!
Yes, everything is mapped out for us now, but what if we never looked at our watches or that little screen in our cart, or just left the rangefinder in our bag? They wouldn’t be very helpful.
Those who seek the will of God and trust the sovereignty of God in all their ways are unique in our secular culture.There is a spiritual parallel here worth looking at. Jesus said in the Gospel of John that he would send a helper. That helper is the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus’ resurrection, people did not have the Holy Spirit living on the inside to help them. In Acts 2, we read of the Spirit being poured out on those present at Pentecost. As born again believers, we now have a spiritual GPS system inside us. Everything regarding how we are to live a life that glorifies God is mapped out for us in the Bible. And the Holy Spirit is there to help us get through each day, warning of trouble and showing us the best way forward.
Today’s verse from Proverbs is one a lot of believers know by heart or remember when they hear it. One of these is a dear friend of Links Players here in the Southern California desert. He calls it a “life verse.” This friend has been a PGA professional for more than 60 years, so he knows just how much trusting in the Lord guides one’s life, in the same way he knows how much help new technology gives us on the course.
Many in our society understand trusting God with some of their heart, in some of their ways, some of the time. This is like using your GPS or rangefinder on two or three holes, but leaving it in the bag the rest of the day. Those who seek the will of God and trust the sovereignty of God in all their ways are uncommon in our secular culture.
Are you trusting in your own understanding? If so, my guess is your paths are not always that straight. My challenge for us today, friends, is to read these verses afresh and examine how well we are living them out. Solomon knew that trusting in God was of unmatchable value because God is utterly trustworthy. When it comes to what matters in life, his guidance far outruns anything the military’s best engineers will ever devise!
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Marty Jacobus
December 17, 2019
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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