My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26, NIV)
There are bad golf days, of course, when rain drives you from the course or your wedge play adds far more shots than it takes away.
But I would suggest that there are no bad days on the golf course. Not even when we’re enduring the worst in our game. Not when we can look around the world as Solomon did and see “the weak and the needy,” those needing rescue from “oppression and violence” (Psalm 72:13-14). Golf is never, never as bad as all that.
Asaph, writing in Psalm 73, shows us how this is true when our hearts are held by the God of the universe, the Lord of our salvation.
We are, we know all too well as the years pass, crumbling façades. Our backs ache, our shoulders stiffen, and our knees need a good lube job. Our flesh on the outside, our organs on the inside—for many of us, these are past their warranty years, and very few of us are being offered an extension.
So where do we go to find perspective when the big world around us and the little world that is us are falling apart? We go to the one who never weakens. We go to the eternal source of strength.
My physical heart may fail. But the heart of my soul, the place where I find what really matters, is sustained by God. My financial resources, the support of my friends and family, even essentials like a home and a meal—these may disappear as the days and years advance. But God supplies what we need most of all: an enduring love, an eternal hope.
Talk about good news! The God who made us is the God who keeps us. Asaph closed his psalm with these words: “I will tell of all your deeds.” This may be the “bad day” for a friend when you have opportunity to tell them how God maintains “the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28).
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Jeff Hopper
May 4, 2012
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