Weeks 47 & 48 (09) - Blessings of Divine Guidance

As a golfer, I have huge respect for golfers who are winners of Major Championships (British Open, Masters, US Open and US PGA), the 4 Grand Slams of golf. A world class professional golfer would be lucky to win 1 or 2 of them in a lifetime. Tiger Woods, still in his prime, has already won 14 of them, plus winning another 57 other PGA tour events. This explains why he is such a formidable figure in golf. Whenever and wherever Tiger plays, he attracts media attention.

On Friday, 27th November, he attracted media attention of a different kind. He crashed his car onto a fire hydrant and a tree just outside his Florida home. The golfer was found semi-conscious with facial injuries. Police officers were told Woods' wife Elin had used a golf club to break the car's rear window and help him out.

Woods, who has been married for five years and has two young children, has recently been the subject of tabloid allegations about his private life. These include alleged affair with New York socialite Rachel Uchitel. Another more recent allegation is a claim from Jaimee Grubbs, a Californian cocktail waitress, who said she received many texts from Tiger and had a number of sexual encounters with him. The clean-living reputation of the world’s richest athlete has sadly been tarnished!

I am not in the business of tabloid gossip. In fact I am saddened by the whole story and it gives me absolutely no pleasure to bring it up, except to highlight the fact that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of our Creator God. Without exception, we are all sinners who needed a Saviour.

The positive thing of the incidence is that Tiger issued a statement of apology, saying that “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behaviour my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behaviour and personal failings behind closed doors with my family……...”

If Tiger Woods is a believer in Jesus Christ, this would be a good prayer at this time: “May my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word. May my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise. May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees. May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous. May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight. Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me. I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands. [Ps 119:169-176 NIV]

When King Solomon was walking with God, when his devotion was genuine, his prayer was powerful and God’s glory filled the temple. “When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.......When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshipped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, "He is good; his love endures for ever." Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats…….the LORD appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place……." [2 Chron 7:1-6,11-22 NIV]

Unbelievers cannot see God’s glory because they have been blinded by the god of this age. But the servants of God will continue to preach Jesus Christ as Lord although it is by no means easy. “………The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake……We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you……For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” [2 Corinthians 4:1-18 NIV]

Let us ask God for wisdom, understanding and knowledge because God says “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding…..then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones…….” [Prov 2:1-12 NIV]

Amen and amen!