PPic:
Oberon Golf Course - Links Pro Am 2006 |
|||||||
|
PGA Chaplain Bible StudiesWeekly Study No 21 - 21/08/2009 Ecclesiastes Ch 7:1-14 “Extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart. The end of the matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions. Wisdom is like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor. Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy, but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future. (Ecclesiastes Chapter 7: verses 7 to 14 NIV).
I can’t wait, but sometimes it is better!Golf is a game where there is a fine line between playing well and bad. A day is a long time in golf and can be the difference between a score of 68 to 85 on your score card. It’s such a frustrating yet exhilarating game and is often likened to our experiences of life. Golf and life gives us sufficient ups and downs to keep us on our toes. We come to a section in Ecclesiastes that has a number of sayings that are classified as wisdom sayings. The first part of this chapter (verses 1 to 6) is very unusual and possibly refers to a certain pessimism that we can reject. It is basically saying that sorrow and mourning is better than laughter and success. That’s a little like saying a double bogie is better than a birdie. We get to a stage in golf when we are playing so bad, you no longer care. That maybe is some of the sentiments expressed. Some parts of the bible are hard to comprehend and these verses are some of them. We move towards more helpful and clear sayings in verses 7 to 10 outlined above. Most of the sayings refer to the virtue of patience. Too often in golf and life when things don’t work out we become impatient, react and later regret our actions. We also can run around doing so many things that we lose patience with people and do things badly. This is something I am trying to avoid in building a house where patience is needed. Patience is part of being wise, because it allows us to process more information and make better choices. Patience also is a healthy virtue because you are less stressed about forcing an outcome and tend to enjoy life more. Being patient gives space in life, even though we still have to deal with some uncertainty about life. But that is how our reading ends this week, in acknowledging that our future and what the rest of our life will be is uncertain. By entrusting our life to God, who knows the future, patience turns into hope, a theme that Paul writes about in the New Testament in Romans Chapter 5: verses 1 to 5. “Patience produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given to us.” Prayer. Eternal God, with your guidelines I can learn to be wise and to develop patience. Help me to create space in my life to avoid the mistakes of acting hasty. Amen.
|
Upcoming Events |
||||
Site by Limelight Creative |
|||
