You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. (James 5:11b, NIV)
So what did you think of Saturday at the Masters?
Funny question now that we know the whole story. Who’s still thinking of Saturday now that the winning putt has been holed and the green jacket donned? Not many.
Of course there were several things we did find out on Saturday, little insights that made Sunday more interesting. We learned that age is not intimidated—in either direction. We learned that experience at Augusta counts—but not as much as well-struck shots.
But Saturday didn’t tell us all we wanted to know, being enamored with champions as we are. We wanted a winner and, because this kind of resolution demands it, we wanted a loser. We wanted to know the ending. We wanted Sunday.
It’s a tidy thing that golf tournaments do, keeping us hanging on to the proverbial cliff for only a night. Life isn’t like that. The end of the story may be painfully far down the line.
Moses standing with the masses on the edge of the sea with Pharaoh’s army bearing down on them—that was Saturday. And it was gravity and despair and terror.
Mordecai, hearing the pronouncement of Haman that the Jewish people were targeted for extermination—that was Saturday.
Daniel, arms bound on the threshold of the lions’ den—that was Saturday.
Jesus’ day in the tomb, his body given over to the ravages of decay that death always brings—that, indeed, was Saturday.
The trouble with Saturday when we are living it is that we have no idea what Sunday will hold. We have no assurance, in the way that we do when we read the completed stories of Scripture, that another day is coming and that it will be better. No assurance but one.
In those accounts of the Bible and in the rendering of our own lives, this is constant: God is there. Our narrative is in the Author’s hands.
We cannot know what our Sunday will look like. To the world, that we may appear a loser is just as likely as our holding the trophy. Whether we are restored like Job or taken down like Stephen, God’s got us covered. Earthly trophies or not, we will gain the prize he has for us. And like Sunday at the Masters, that is the only result that will matter in the long run.
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Jeff Hopper
April 14, 2014
Copyright 2014 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.