SEARCH ME

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way." (Psalm 139:23, 24, NASB)

As a professional golfer, I realize the importance of chipping, pitching, and getting the ball up and down. If you cannot chip the ball within eight feet consistently, then no matter how good your putting is, you're not going to get up and down more than 30 percent of the time.

Even knowing this truth, my wedge game hit an all-time low last week. I won't go into all the horrors, but let's just say that with eight greenside chances to get up and down for par, I ended up making four double bogies, two bogies, and two pars.

I have been spending hours practicing pitch shots, yet I just kept getting worse! Out of my own good ideas, I finally got a friend to help. Ben works hand-in-hand with Stan Utley, arguably the hottest and best short-game guru on the PGA Tour.

My friend had been available all along, but in my pride I failed to ask for help. When I got to the practice range with Ben, I told him to search me for these hidden faults within my chipping motion. Ben is trained to see what I cannot. Ben's lesson for me was to have more rotation of the hands and wrists in the chipping action, thus keeping the club on plane in a circular motion. I was working on the opposite. I was actually working on more outside-to-in motion, while keeping my clubface shut.

Within a few minutes, execution of my chipping became easy, allowing me to now hone in on the target with feel and confidence. Thanks be to Ben!

In our spiritual lives, we all need help to look within our hearts. King David approached God with a most difficult request: "Search me, O God…lead me in Your everlasting way." This is a hard petition because more than likely it will require change. David knew his mistakes were not reflecting God's glory to the Israelite nation. He asked God for help, and God was able to reveal the cause and encourage a solution. Thanks be to God!

Like David, we keep repeating mistakes. The cause of these behaviors is rooted deep in our souls. By ourselves, we do not have the ability to obtain an accurate assessment of our own "spiritual body odor." As I did in golf, we often make things worse by trying too hard to fix these areas by ourselves. Some things in our hearts only the Master can see and reveal to us. Then our efforts will be directed properly.

Got a golf swing problem, ask a professional for help and heed his or her advice.

Got a life problem, ask God to search you. Then be led in the everlasting way!

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Marcus Jones

January 25, 2006

Copyright 2006 Links Players International

The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.