People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish. This is the fate of those who trust in themselves… (Psalm 49:12-13, NIV)
One of the most impressive shots we watch tour professionals make is the short chip from long rough.
Only if the camera operator stands almost on top of the ball do we see the horror of the lie; the fingers of grass envelop the familiar white orb. How can anything other than a strong and fast swing extract this ball properly? But how can such a strong and fast swing keep the ball from flying across the green into a neighboring bunker? For you and me, this is golf’s version of the proverbial recipe for disaster.
But in steps the professional, bearing the single characteristic that can both swing boldly at this ball and propel it only the very few feet necessary to keep it near the hole: trust. And even the commentators, many of whom played professionally themselves, marvel at the swing that follows. It’s full and powerful and often glorious in its results. Trust rewarded.
I wonder if this leads you to the same questions it leads me to.
The Lord suffers no lack of confidence, and his confidence is forever confirmed.The golf version is easy to answer. No, I don’t trust myself that much at all. When I was young and stupid, not knowing any better, I’d make these same types of brazen swings and pull off the shots. Now I am older, maybe wiser, and definitely far less practiced. Please find me a tidy bump-and-run.
But then there is the spiritual version, the one where my confidence is called in to question in a different context entirely. Can I trust myself here?
The scriptural answer is not very convincing. The prophet wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). So much for all those “follow your heart” sentiments; my own internal compass points only to itself.
In a more personal consideration, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me” (1 Corinthians 4:4). Here again, one of my supposedly reliable locaters isn’t, for my conscience does not have a full understanding of me as the Lord has.
I can only conclude from passages like these that I cannot be trusted. But I know one who can! Later the apostle wrote again to the Corinthians, telling them how glad he was to see the evidence of his ministry in their lives. But he added: “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5, emphasis mine). The Lord suffers no lack of confidence, and his confidence is forever confirmed. Indeed, it is confirmed right before our spectating eyes, so we can be exceedingly confident, too—confident in him!
—
Jeff Hopper
October 6, 2020
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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