“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also me.” (John 14:1, NIV)
You will often hear a television golf commentator say that a player just needs to trust his swing. They usually say this when the shot is difficult and requires great precision to avoid trouble, or when the pressure is greatest and an errant shot would bring heartbreak. In these moments, it is so important for the player to trust the swing they know and not try to guide the shot in some way to avoid the trouble.
He repeats the small tests over and over until trusting him becomes our go-to thought when we need help.Professional golfers can trust their swing because they have given many hours up to perfect that swing. It should be trustworthy under pressure. They don’t try to change their swing under pressure; they just trust in what they have practiced and know has worked in the past.
What do we trust in when we are faced with pressure in our life? Do we look at the trouble and worry about what will happen if we make a mistake in our choice or action? Will we trust that what we know is true will allow us to take the proper step? As Christians we are called on to trust in God for everything in our life. Truthfully, we don’t always let God have his way with us. When we get a bad bounce in the game of our life, will we trust in God or will we try to guide the outcome by our own efforts?
Our scripture today speaks to what we should trust in. When things seem grim and out of control, God says to not let our hearts be troubled but instead to trust in him. How do we develop that kind of trust in God?
God teaches us all the days of our life in a thousand different ways that he can be trusted, just as the professional player learns to trust his swing under pressure by repeating it over and over again in focused practice. God is utterly trustworthy to come to our aid in both small and big things in our life. He leads us to this kind of trust by teaching us in small ways, then he repeats those small tests over and over until trusting him becomes our go-to thought when we need help. We develop a trust through these small tests, annoyances, and difficulties in our life so that on the day we face a really daunting shot through a tight fairway to a very small green, we will have developed the knowledge that God can be truly trusted with whatever we face.
We learn to trust God in the small battles so we can know he is trustworthy in the big and really scary things that we might come to face. We don’t have to have troubled hearts no matter what comes against us, because we will know that God is good, in control, and loves us with a love that we can never be separated from. Swing away without fear! God has prepared us—he controls the outcome; we just have to trust in what we know is true about him.
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Linda Ballard
April 7, 2016
Copyright 2016 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.