…all that we have accomplished you have done for us. (Isaiah 26:12, NIV)
So much happens on the golf course that is not of my doing.
I may play the same course today and tomorrow. I may hit the same type of shot on the same hole to a similar spot. But the result, by inches or degrees, is completely different. The 73 of today and the 83 of tomorrow may have little to do with how I am hitting the ball and much more to do with the ground the ball lands upon, where the flag is located, the hushed breath of wind that moves the ball a foot this way or that. And I think I’m in control!
Truth is, we all think we’re in control—especially when the day goes well. We know how to credit ourselves for all kinds of excellence, forgetting the fullness of the Lord’s provision.
A friend who owns a local business recently posted to his social network a list of grateful recognitions to the unsung heroes of his one-man operation: those who pack his supplies, those who built his truck, those who paved the roads he drives on, those who pay their bills on time, and so on. He did a very nice job of deferring to all those who make his work even possible.
Likely, we could all do some improving in this regard. We could learn to sing the song of Isaiah, recognizing that what “we” have accomplished has so little to do with us.
It is true that in faith and diligence we get up and put in a good day’s work. But it is truer that our hearts were beating and our lungs breathing when today we awoke by no power of our own. And it is truer too that diligence came not from our own bright idea, but from the example of a mentor or even the wisdom of Proverbs.
It is true that we sit down with our books at the end of a month and consider the plusses and minuses so we can make ends meet and feed our family. But it is truer that we have a job at all because of the push toward education by a parent or teacher. And it is truer too that we are blessed to be working because a recruiter or employer found one little difference between us and another candidate and decided to offer us the job.
It is true that we are blessed by supportive spouses and colleagues and friends. But it is truer that though we may think we “won them over” by our fine qualities, their particular presence in our lives—if we’ll take the time to rerun our lives to the day of meeting each one—was brought about by any odd combinations of “circumstances” and “coincidences” and “accidents” that all add up to the sovereign order of God’s oversight of our lives.
Isaiah sang it right: All that we have done was actually done for us. By God. According to his plan. For his enduring glory. Praise him!
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Jeff Hopper
August 7, 2012
Copyright 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.