The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart. (Proverbs 17:3, NIV)
Another week, another major.
After Na Yeon Choi and Roger Chapman came to the States and conquered successive U.S. Opens the past two weeks, the world’s best players have started heading to the United Kingdom, where the pros will face the Open Championship and the Senior Open Championship in the weeks ahead. This time it will be the Americans among the foreigners looking to take home a coveted major championship trophy.
The majors are a different animal, we are told, a firmer test of will and skill. They are the stage where the best in the world rise to the top. In that case, the gently spoken Chapman—having captured the Senior PGA Championship and the U.S. Senior Open in the course of just more than a month—has passed the examination exceptionally.
Tests exist for nearly everything. Sometimes they follow a clear standard, as with a professional golf tournament: lowest score wins. More often, they are less predictable, as happens in a job interview. Either way, a measure is used against our character or our ability and something is revealed about us.
But what about our heart?
Today’s proverb reminds us that it is God who tests our heart, who digs deep within us to see what level we stand on.
God alone can tell us how firmly we believe…
how willingly we obey…
how consistently we surrender…
how truly we worship…
how unselfishly we love.
God knows of us what others cannot—often not even ourselves (see Proverbs 16:2). He sees us to the core. Call it unnerving. It is. But if we allow it to do more than unnerve us, rather to humble us under his magnitude and holiness, then we stand a chance to gain from the paradox, to learn from the test itself.
—
Jeff Hopper
July 17, 2012
Copyright 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.