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Photo: Enigma Sports

If I had to choose between my wife and my putter... well, I’d miss her.

Gary Player

Psalm 136 again

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; His love endures for ever. Psalm 136:1

The chorus: “His love endures for ever” is repeated 26 times – to make sure we get the message.

But as we unpack these words, it is an incredible promise. It is amazing enough to think that God loves us but mind-boggling to realize that God’s love will never end. Human life is so short – and a sports career even shorter – that it is difficult for us to conceive of God who has always existed and who always will. But even that is not the half of it. Not only does God exist forever but He will love us forever.

The word for love in Hebrew is “hesed”. One writer says that: “hesed” more than any other Bible word proclaims the very nature of God”*. The word is sometimes translated “loving-kindness”. And that is God’s promise to us to love us forever. As we read the Psalm we see that God’s love is an active love. It is love which leads Him to:

Do wonders (v4);
Create the world (v5ff);
Win battles for his people Israel (v 10ff);
Remember us (v23);
Give us food (v25).

When we remember how much God loves us, we must have a different attitude to everything including our sport. Go out and train and compete for the glory of the God who has promised to love you forever.

*John Harris, Encounter with God, 9 November 2014

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