Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. (Job 1:20-22, ESV)
At every level, golfers are notorious for the “blame game.” We could fill volumes with examples of blame-shifting that occurs over eighteen holes, e.g., “The wind got it!” “My caddie gave me a bad read.”
The whom-to-blame list rarely, if ever, includes taking personal responsibility for various outcomes. I am, of course, exaggerating, but not by much. “When the rolls are called up yonder,” I’ll bet the ranch that blaming something else for mishits, bad bounces, and wayward drives will outnumber taking personal responsibility by 1,000 to 1, maybe more.
Even at the highest levels, professional golfers are not immune from the “blame game.” Everything from a caddy’s misread to the “golf gods” has been blamed for missed putts to shanked wedges.
After hitting only four fairways in the first round of The 2020 Open, one player moaned and groaned regarding his driver: “It’s not a good face for me, and we’re still trying to figure out how to make it good on the mis-hits. I’m living on the razor’s edge like I’ve told people for a long time.”
We all know, “It’s not the arrow; it’s the Indian.” Anyone who has played golf knows this game is fickle—“bad things happen to good people.” Like lost socks in the dryer, we will never understand why some days are great and others, well, not so much.
Life, like golf, is filled with mystery. One day, we are strolling along whistling as Grandpa taught us, and the next day, we are confronted with an unexpected challenge way above our pay grade.
The easiest thing in the world to do is to blame someone else. If we can’t find someone on the horizontal plane, we will go vertical and point our finger at God, accusing him of not caring, or….
If you were to read the first nineteen verses of Job 1, you would more than likely be shocked by his reactions in today’s devotional verses. After marauding enemies brutally killed his servants, livestock, and children, Job humbled himself and worshipped God!
Job says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” Really? I don’t pretend to understand all the Book of Job, but the little I understand sometimes baffles me.
Job has lived a “charmed life” until the Lord removes the hedge around him and permits Satan to attack him and his family. Yet, even in the midst of unspeakable suffering, Job refuses to “charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:22)
Not always, but asking God, “Why?” while suffering can be a thinly disguised accusation against the Almighty. Rushing to the conclusion that God is punishing you for past or present failures is rarely the route to take either.
No matter the difficulty, be it great or small, short or extended, one thing is certain—like Job, you can never go wrong by worshipping the “Maker of heaven and earth.”
No matter the intensity of the pain, the duration of the suffering, or the lack of answers as to why, one thing is sure: God is good, and he has your best interest in mind.
Even if answers are not forthcoming in this life, trusting the Father through it all will prove to be the right decision when he “makes all things new.”
As the hymn has it, “When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory!”
Indeed!
Prayer: Jesus! Open our eyes to have an eternal perspective!