Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.” (2 Samuel 15:3-4, NIV)
About 10 years ago, a story came to me through the grapevine because I was coaching high school golf in our area. It remains one of the saddest I have ever heard in this context.
A player for a local team marked his ball in his unique way, then teed off on the first hole of a match with a couple of other schools. His ball headed for the trees. When the players arrived to the area, the ball was nowhere to be found. The others helped him search for several minutes, then started to walk away, assuming the player was returning to the tee to replay. But “suddenly” the ball appeared, there in the grass under the trees.
As in many such cases, there was little the others could do. The player is his own arbiter. So the suspicion hung in the air right through to the signing of the scorecards—and, of course, beyond.
But here the story takes its ugliest turn. A day or two later, one of the players in the original group was again playing the hole and again had reason to head toward the trees. And there in the grass, dislodged from the tree by the wind or a squirrel or the finger of God, lay the uniquely marked golf ball that could not be found before. Suspicion confirmed. And the story was told until it reached the likes of me, the name of that young player ever sullied.
Like so many ideals, true justice is hard to find.
Golfers demand justice. Yet no matter how compelling the evidence, they do not always get it. The books are closed, and we are told to move on.
You don’t need me to tell you that golfers are only a small group of those demanding justice in our time, just as they have done in all times. Again, they don’t always get it. Like so many ideals, true justice is hard to find.
When Absalom began to build public momentum for usurping his father David’s throne, he did so with an appeal to justice. Who would argue that justice wasn’t needed? So Absalom created a crack in the people’s confidence and raised himself up as the needed hero. But Absalom’s standard of justice was later revealed to be the same as it is for many today: I win.
Justice comes from just people. The prophet Micah pronounced the Lord’s own words: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). There is a powerful individual imperative there.
Do you want to see justice enacted in your city, your state, your nation? Act justly. That’s all you can really control. From there, you may become an advocate for others, as someone who can be trusted.
—
Jeff Hopper
April 27, 2021
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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