Proverbs
8:1-4, 22-31
The legendary movie character Baggar Vance described a person's true character saying "a man's grip on his club just like a man's grip on his world."
The late entertainer Bob Hope once said, "If I'm on the golf course and lightning starts, I get inside fast. If God wants to play through, I let him."
One of my favorite golfers, Mr. Arnold Palmer, once said, “Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.”
Author Michael Murphy wrote, "Golf is a game to teach you about the messages from within, about the subtle voices of the body-mind. And once you understand them you can more clearly see the ways in which your approach to the game reflects your entire life. Nowhere does a man go so naked than on the golf course."
As a golfer, I know there is nothing more exhilarating than hitting the ball with sweet spot of the club. I also know there is nothing more humbling than slicing your tee shot into the next fairway with a crowd of people looking on. The high points and low points we experience playing golf parallel the high and low points of life.
The Greek poet Aeschylus wrote, “In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.” Wherever we find ourselves riding the rollercoaster of life, whether we’re up or down, wisdom is there to tell us who we really are, who we belong to and what we are called to do.
Good stewards pay attention to what wisdom offers. We can say that Wisdom itself should be the first voice we listen to before we venture into any part of life, whether it's on the golf course or at the beginning of a new day. Proverbs 8 imagines Wisdom as a female figure created by God who stands at the crossroads beside the gates of the city and cries out to the people, "O simple ones, learn prudence; acquire intelligence, you who lack it" (Proverbs 8:1-5). We can almost imagine her standing on the first tee and telling us to get real about ourselves before we take a swing at life. We are "simple" when we don't have a good sense of who we are, and we need to listen to and learn from God and God's Wisdom in order to match our character with our actions (v. 5). Wisdom reveals the truth and what we need to prosper and grow.
Wisdom reveals that God has been a consistent Creator and Sustainer since the beginning of time. God created Wisdom right along with the Earth. Wisdom was there beside God like a "master worker" in whom God delighted. Wisdom also rejoiced and delighted in the people God made (vv. 30-31). God has always loved his creation and his people, and reveals this most clearly through the incarnation of Jesus, who John says is the logos, or the wisdom of God (John 1:1-14). Despite our human tendency to arrogance, God's logos, God's Wisdom, God's love has come to perfect the imperfect and offer a way of life that keeps us on the fairway toward the image of God we were created to be. That way of life is the way of Wisdom.
Good stewards allow wisdom and discernment guide their steps. Sometimes we speak, sometimes we hold our tongue and listen. Sometimes we step out and take the lead, sometimes we allow others to be leaders. A good, wise steward is honest with him or herself. Golf instructor Percy Boomer once said, "If you wish to hide your character, do not play golf." Better to be honest, forthright and wise before hitting that first tee shot! Here is what that looks like.
A wise player plays by the rules. "Happy are those who keep my ways," says Wisdom (v. 32). Even the best golfers know that they need constant instruction from teachers in order to keep their swings intact and make their balls fly straight. Those who want to keep their lives intact and walk the straight path will also hear Wisdom's instruction and "be wise" (v. 33). Happy is the one who listens to Wisdom's instruction from the first tee at the beginning of every day (v. 34). The wise person will also look for God's Wisdom, instead of beating the bushes to try to find himself. The wise person knows that whoever seeks God will obtain God's favor, not because he has done everything perfectly but because everything he or she does is aimed at pleasing God (v. 35).[1]
A wise player practices regularly. That kind of consistency requires practice. One of the so-called “pro” golfers who showed up at last year's U.S. Open qualifier shot in the high 80s during both rounds and told the USGA, "I only hone my game for the U.S. Open every year." You can't hone your golf game or your discipleship only once a year and expect to be successful. Those who miss the daily discipline of practicing wisdom will "injure themselves" in more ways than one, and those who refuse to listen to Wisdom wind up with a life that looks like the equivalent of a bad round of golf: a lot of walking, broken up by disappointment, laced with words that would make a sailor blush and bad arithmetic. It's the kind of round that ultimately leads to the way of death (v. 36).[2]
A wise player is honest. It's easy to come up with a host of excuses why we haven't been following God and God's Wisdom. God isn't looking for excuses, however; God is looking for those who are willing to admit that their game is not all that great; that their handicaps are poor but who want to undergo the instruction necessary to get better.[3]
Wisdom is a gift from God. Nowhere was this more evident than with the first responders and residents of Moore, Oklahoma. This week has been a crazy one for extreme weather, especially with our neighbors to our north. The amount of destruction brought by the EF-5 tornado earlier this week in that town was devastating and overwhelming, perhaps the most destructive storm in our nation’s history. In the midst of that terrible tragedy, the wisdom of God was evident through the amazing stories of survival; stories such as how quickly first responders arrived and worked tirelessly day and night to find the injured, the lost, those buried beneath rubble and helping reunite loved ones: children with their parents, pets with their owners. One story that caught my eye was one of an elementary school teacher who physically covered several of her students in order to protect them from the falling debris. Cindy is a first grade teacher. She opened her classroom door and saw the tornado coming. “There was no turning back”, she said. “It was coming right at the school.” She immediately got on top of the kids, saying this is not a drill and to get down and cover your heads. One of those children with her was her own son. As they cried for their own moms they had desks covering them and chairs and tables. This teacher had the wisdom to do the right thing by her students, even if that meant putting herself in harm’s way. Cindy was wise enough to do what she did that day not because she had been through this before but because she welcomed wisdom into her life and it had made a home in her heart long ago. The way of life is the way of wisdom.
A wise player who practices, who is honest, and who retains Wisdom as his or her "coach" will become a better player. When we listen to Wisdom, listen to the voice of the Spirit of God, improvement in our games is inevitable.[4]
No comments:
Post a Comment