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DECEMBER 2, 2011
NOT A GOD OF CHANCE
...you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of the universe. Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands
be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. (Ecclesiastes 11:5-6, NIV)
Somewhere there is still a foolish man who thinks he can take control of his golf game, that he can tell you what he
will shoot today and tomorrow and the next day.
Yes, we would laugh at such a man as this. And perhaps this is why we love golf so much, for it is the one place where
most of us willingly give up control in our lives. We work at getting better, taking a lesson here and there and hitting a large bucket of balls to find our true swing. But we don’t fret much over
our score from one day to the next, for golf, if anything, is a variable game. The outcome is unknowable at the outset.
But here’s what is silly: in nearly every other endeavor, we get to thinking that we are in control, smarter than
next guy, or stronger, or more beautiful, diligent or efficient. We are all engineers, designing the perfect life.
And then life kicks us in the smarty pants.
Ecclesiastes can be a difficult book to wrap your head around. Its writer was confused or conflicted or a
whole lot of both. Or not. Perhaps what he was doing was living out God’s name for God’s people: Israel (“wrestles with God”). Perhaps the writer was doing a very good job of
looking at the ways of the world and then grappling with God on the one hand and of submitting to His sovereignty on the other: Why do You do such a
thing, O Lord? Oh, but who am I to think I can even know?
Statisticians will tell you that the stock market suffers from the herd instinct-driven rushes and panics of those who
think they know it best. Far more frequently than probability should allow, the market swings to its farthest deviations. Trips us! Yes, so little do we know, unless we know this: God alone stands with
all knowledge. God alone ordains the course of our lives. God is God. Praise Him that He is even one bit mindful of us!
--
Jeff Hopper
December 2, 2011
Copyright © 2011 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday through Friday and is archived by passage and topic at
www.linksplayers.com.
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