The golf course designer does not always make the fairway straight. Out from the tee box he may design a dogleg which will angle to the left or the right toward the green. The dogleg would look like the back leg of a dog. The dogleg on the golf course may be out 175 to 225 yards which means you must hit the ball that far to be in the fairway so you can make your second shot to the green. If you do not get past the dogleg, the chances are your next shot to the green will be blocked by trees, sand traps or even water. God’s design is to get us past the doglegs of life, as a matter of fact his way is straight. Have you had any doglegs you’ve had to negotiate lately in your life?
“Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; Make your way straight before my face.” Psalm 5:8
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There are some golf courses I play that I really do not think the designer was fair in the layout of a certain hole. It might be to long, to many sand traps on the side, or you have to cross over a lake. Do you know there are times, because of God’s commands, that we do not think He is fair. I should not blame the designer of the golf course for my problem which usually comes about because of my lack of ability in playing the game of golf.
“Yet the children of your people say, the way of the Lord is not fair. but it is their way that is not fair.” Ezekiel 33:17
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You are more apt to score better if you follow the instructions and hit the ball only 230 yards and land in the fairway then if you do not follow the instructions and hit the ball 350 yards and land in the trees. Hitting the ball correctly is more important than how far you hit the ball. The same is true with life, follow the instructions and land in the fairway and there you will enjoy a smooth life.
“Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in the smooth path, because of my enemies.” Psalm 27:11
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The fairway is the mowed part of a golf course between the tee and the green. It is the way that the hole is to be played. If you hit your ball straight and it lands in the fairway, it makes playing the hole much easier. This is an equal and fair way to play the hole. No trees, no out of bounds, no penalty strokes. Jesus is the way to eternal life. There is no other way. God has made it a fair way for us to have a relationship with him.
I hope that your life is in the middle of the fairway of life.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
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The reason so many golf balls end up out of bounds, in the rough, or in the water is because we probably ignored something very important. Either we didn’t listen to or follow the instruction book or the instructor.
The penalty stroke was the result of our thinking we could hit a golf ball in the right direction on our own with out any instructions.
Life is very similar to the game of golf. We have this idea that we know how to live life with out the instruction book and the instructor. We ignore the principles of the Bible, the examples and instructions of our family and friends. What happens when we go it on our own? We end up with a penalty stroke because our life has ended up out of bounds, in the rough or in the water. Proverbs tells us the penalty is pretty severe.
PROVERBS 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
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Golf course designers, design and build golf courses. They have a plan and they have a purpose. Playing golf and making it around a golf course is much like playing the game of life. Our universe and mankind has been designed by God and He also has a plan and a purpose for us. When you are born, you are teed up for life and you begin the journey around the course of life. When you hit the golf ball from the tee it is going in a certain direction and where it lands will be determined by the direction it started from off the tee. How you are directed from the very beginning of your life will have a lot to do as to where you will end up in life. Getting started in the right direction is of utmost importance.
PROVERBS 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
When you get out of the sand trap of life, look around and you will find a rake next to the bunker. you will want to rake the sand smoothing out your foot prints and your divot in the sand. This will help the next person who finds themselves in the sand trap. Part of God’s measuring our spiritual life is what did we learn from the experience and how we can help someone else with what we have learned making it easier for them when they are found in the bunker.
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I played golf yesterday, and yes. I ended up in the sand trap. The sand was wet and I hit too far behind the ball and flubbed the shot and you guessed it I didn’t get out of the bunker. My friend was in the sand trap and he hit too little of the sand and too much of the ball and the ball went flying over the green into the rough. It seems so easy, enter the club into the sand a few inches behind the ball and the sand will carry the ball out of the bunker onto the green. I have flubbed a lot of shots out of the sand traps of life because I trusted in my own efforts rather than trusting in the grace of God to lift me out the bunker. Early in my ministry it was all about me rather than God. He left me in the sand trap for a long time until I finally learned to let God’s grace carry me out of this sand trap. What has your experience been in the bunker?
You don’t strike the ball with your club to get out of the sand trap. Your club actually enters the sand a few inches behind the ball and the sand carries the ball out of the bunker. The same is true if you find yourself in the sand trap of life, you can try to get out of the bunker by yourself, but it is a lot easier to allow God’s grace to carry you out of the sand trap of life. One principle of God’s spiritual measurement is do we trust God to deliver us from our bunkers of life.
