Offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD. (Psalm 4:5, NIV)
We have all had athletically accomplished friends who come to the game of golf only to struggle. Some stick it out, but others are so used to success that they can’t bear the idea of being outed by a game that looks so easy “on paper.”
Many of life’s best ideas start on paper. They don’t all progress. Without a tenacious force pushing the idea to fruition, it will die. Henry Ford, inventor of the assembly line that established mass production of the automobile, once said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” But that was Henry Ford. For many of us, it’s the opportunity to quit and call an expert!
Lots of things can derail what looks easy on paper, of course—not just an absence of tenacity. A lack of funds, a lack of time, and a lack of passion can all wipe out any sustained or spirited effort at moving something from on paper to off, where it becomes an integral part of our lives.
The two-part directive at the heart of the fourth psalm looks so easy on paper. Offer right sacrifices. Trust in the Lord. Surely this is something we can do. Then comes living.
You will fail and you will fall down. But when you stand again in the strength of the Lord, you can trust and obey once again.To make a right sacrifice is to give God our best. The firstfruits, Scripture calls them, because in an agricultural economy, that is often literally what they were. When the harvest was collected, I was to first think always of the portion that was God’s. And then I was to give it to him. When my wages came, the first portion would go to the temple and to those who led worship there.
Are you getting nervous yet? If you’re not in the practice of giving, or if you worry about the bills to be paid, you might well be. But even if you are generous and disciplined in your giving, you may need to be reminded today that God gets the best of you. At least he should. Two good questions to ask yourself are, Where am I allowing something to step in front of God? Where am I holding back in serving him?
Then there is the matter of trusting in the Lord. The idea behind the word is to put our confidence in him, to stand assured that he can handle what we’re going through. Again, a good idea on paper—or even on our knees before the clock starts ticking on our day. But life is lived in board rooms and hospital rooms and grill rooms, in our child’s principal’s office and behind the wheel of our car on the way to a meeting we did not call. Our good questions in those hours are these: Do I believe God is with me? Do I know that he cares, no matter what happens?
No one ever rightly said that living for Jesus would be easy day to day. Jesus himself said that we should consider the cost before following him. Even the simplest instructions demand application “off paper.” But here too, tenacity can be a great ally. You will fail and you will fall down. But when you stand again in the strength of the Lord, you can trust and obey once again.
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Jeff Hopper
April 14, 2020
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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